Anthony Martínez, a young Christian living in San Antonio de los Baños, province of Artemisa, received a police summons this Sunday requiring him to appear on Monday, October 5, at 9:00 AM at the "technical" facility in Guanajay, without the officer who delivered the document explaining the reason.
Martínez himself reported the situation in a video on Facebook, where he displayed the document to the camera: "Do you know what this paper is? A summons that I just received now at 2:30 in the afternoon. An officer came and without telling me the reason why I need to be in Guanajay tomorrow at 9 in the morning, just handed me this summons."
In his post, he warned that it is the third time the authorities have summoned him and urged his followers to spread the message: "Repression continues in Cuba."
The journalist and activist Yaiset Rodríguez Fernández warned on her social media that Anthony does not have any criminal charges that would justify a police summons and that the officer "didn't even tell him the reason."
The citation arrives three days after the trial against Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente —known as Anna Bensi— and her mother, Caridad Silvente, held on October 1 before the People's Municipal Court of Havana del Este. That day, Martínez managed to leave his house without being detected by the agents watching him and tried to accompany both of them. The regime found them guilty of "acts against personal and family privacy" and sentenced them to two years of restriction of freedom, a penalty that limits their mobility and prohibits them from leaving the country.
In his video, Martínez denounced that the repression that day was widespread and referred to how in the context of the trial against both women, "they treated us like criminals, like murderers. [...] It wasn't enough that Pregonero de Cristo was detained on the way and mistreated." The evangelical pastor Rolando Fidel Pérez Lora was arrested in the street while heading to the court, and the activist David Espinosa Martínez was detained and allegedly taken to La Lisa to prevent him from arriving.
It's not the first time that State Security has pressured Martínez. The Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP) documented that on June 10, agents summoned him verbally—without a written order—for an "informal conversation," an episode classified as a direct violation of freedom of expression. Additionally, a formal citation from the National Revolutionary Police was also issued in his name for September 24. ICLEP notes that these practices violate Article 54 of the 2019 Cuban Constitution, which recognizes the right to freedom of thought and expression.
Followers and friends expressed their solidarity in the comments. One of them wrote that the interrogation was a direct consequence of Martínez managing to reach the trial despite the surveillance, calling the situation "extremely unfortunate." Another pointed out that the repression "increases more every day and will be worse as long as these henchmen feel that their end is drawing nearer."
Martínez ended his video with a phrase that encapsulates the feelings of those facing this pressure: "What is this called? It’s called repression anywhere in the world. For thinking differently. Let the world know what is happening. Long live a free Cuba..."
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