The case of Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente, the 21-year-old Cuban known on social media as Anna Bensi, made headlines this week in the United States through a report published by NBC6 South Florida on Instagram, where journalist Roxanne Vargas explained who the Cuban content creator is, why she was judged, and what the true extent of her sentencing is.
The video, shared on Friday by the official account of the Miami channel, summarizes the journey of Anna Bensi: from posting videos of humor and music to becoming one of the most visible young voices criticizing the Cuban regime from within the island.
On Thursday, a court in the municipality of Habana del Este found Anna Bensi and her mother, Caridad Silvente, guilty, sentencing them to two years of restricted freedom – a non-custodial sentence – for recording and sharing on social media the visit of an agent from the Ministry of the Interior to their home.
The charge attributed was "acts against personal and family privacy," defined in Article 393 of the Cuban Penal Code. The regime argued that the crime was not recording the agent, but rather disseminating the images without her consent.
The origin of the case dates back to March 10, 2026, when an official from MININT showed up at the apartment of a mother and daughter to deliver a summons from State Security. Both recorded the encounter and shared it on social media. Since March 25, they have been under house arrest with a prohibition on leaving the country.
The trial was held behind closed doors, presided over by a judge previously noted for her actions in 11J cases. Before entering the courtroom, Anna Bensi stated to the present media: «The trial will not be fair, but I have a just God», and called for truth and a free Cuba.
The report from NBC6 also recalls that since 2025, the young woman has used her platform to denounce blackouts, shortages, low wages, and the daily issues that suffocate Cubans. In July, she revealed that she spent nearly 12 hours at a police station being interrogated about her posts and her criticisms of the government.
The defense attorney Roberto Ortega explained that the time to file a possible appeal starts from the notification of the sentence.
The case of Anna Bensi is not an isolated incident. It is part of a broader repression by the regime against young creators of critical content.
Two members of the project El4tico were arrested in Holguín in February 2026 on charges of propaganda against the constitutional order, for whom the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Holguín has recently requested eight-year prison sentences for Ernesto Ricardo Medina and ten years for Kamil Zayas Pérez.
They are joined by members of the collective Fuera de la Caja Cuba, who reported a police cordon on the same day as the trial of Benítez Silvente, with surveillance, movement restrictions, and phone line disruptions.
The ruling prompted immediate reactions: Cuban-American congress members rejected the verdict and the government of the United States demanded the release of Anna Bensi and her mother.
"It will never be fair to have a trial when we are governed by a state of injustice", said Anna Bensi before learning her sentence, in a statement that encapsulates what her case represents for thousands of Cubans both inside and outside the island.
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