The Christian activist David Espinosa, 38 years old, reported on Saturday that the Cuban dictatorship selectively cut his ETECSA line despite it being active and paid, in what the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP) described as a sustained cut aimed at his public activities.
The blockage occurred after Espinosa was detained on Thursday while trying to attend the trial against the influencer Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente (Anna Bensi) and her mother Caridad Silvente at the Municipal People's Court of Havana del Este. Regime agents took him to the police unit in La Lisa to prevent him from reaching the court.
In a video shared on Saturday, Espinosa explained that he had been unable to make or receive calls, send text messages, or use mobile data normally for three days. When his family members tried to reach him, they heard an automated message: "The mobile you are calling is turned off or out of coverage." From another number, the message changed to: "The number you are calling is not reachable."
"I can't call anyone, and no one can call me, neither by SMS nor by regular call," the activist stated in the recording.
To refute ETECSA's version—which attributed the problem to the physical device—Espinosa inserted another SIM card into his phone and was able to make calls normally, while his personal number remained unreachable. "My line is not working," he stated, demanding a solution from the state-run company.
The situation also affected WhatsApp: most outgoing messages were held back and not sent. The activist suggested, as a personal perception, the suspicion that there is a selective filter on his communications.
ICLEP recorded the case under the indicator of "limitations in the digital space" and concluded that it constitutes a "sustained and selective cut of contracted services with an impact on their telephone and digital communications." The organization noted that this situation is part of a pattern of restrictions aimed at individuals linked to activism and independent journalism in Cuba.
This episode is not the first. On the night of April 22 to 23, ETECSA simultaneously deactivated the lines of Espinosa, his wife Laidy García, Anna Bensi, and her mother in a span of just three minutes. Hours later, Anna Bensi's WhatsApp was deactivated for the second time that same night. Espinosa then denounced from an alternative connection: "I am connected via hotspot. This also has to be said."
The activist also linked his situation to that of Anna Bensi and her mother, who were sentenced that same Thursday to two years of restricted freedom for having recorded and published the visit of a MININT officer to their home. "This is not the first time this has happened to someone," Espinosa said, referring to the restrictions that both activists also faced.
On that same Thursday, the evangelical pastor Rolando Fidel Pérez Lora, known as “Herald of Christ,” was arrested for the third time this year while heading to the court to support Anna Bensi. Cubalex documented at least four arrests during the operation deployed around the trial.
Espinosa, who had been summoned by the MININT at least five times before the trial —including a call with his wife in April under the pretext of a "interview about possible illegal activity"—, rejected any justification for the blocking of his line: "What I do is simply tell the truth on my social media."
ICLEP demanded that ETECSA immediately restore service and called on Cuban authorities to put an end to selective communication blackouts against activists and independent journalists. Espinosa, for his part, announced that he would personally go to the offices of the state company to demand the restoration of the services for which he has paid: "I am not going to stay silent this time."
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