Writers, journalists, theater directors, and independent communicators from Cuba star in a video published by La Hora de Cuba, in which they demand the immediate release of Henry Constantín Ferreiro, founder and director of the media outlet, who has been imprisoned for 28 days in the Kilo 7 maximum-security prison in Camagüey, with no trial date set.
The 36-second clip articulates a chain of phrases under the slogan that has become the rallying cry of the campaign: "Creating is not a crime, investigating is not a crime, writing is not a crime, telling is not a crime, asking is not a crime, speaking is not a crime, informing is not a crime, listening is not a crime, deciding is not a crime, documenting is not a crime, communicating is not a crime. So, what is Henry's crime? Freedom for Henry Constantín Ferreiro."
Among those featured in the video are writers Rafael Almanza and Pedro Armando Junco, journalists Josefina Fernández and William Lucas, theater director Mario Junkera, journalist and professor José Raúl Gallego, content creator Reina Yagnara, the deputy director of La Hora de Cuba, Iris Mariño; communicator Lucila Morales Vivar, and journalists Raúl Medina (elTOQUE), Jansel Moreno (Diario de Cuba), and Camila Acosta (CubaNet).
Alejandra García, a journalist from La Hora de Cuba and partner of Constantín, also takes part, and her presence in the video carries significant weight following the events of October 9: after her second visit to Constantín at Kilo 7, two agents from State Security detained her and subjected her to an interrogation during which they told her they could "help her" and that she needed to choose "the easy way or the hard way."
García responded that Constantín remained steadfast and that she did too. From prison, the journalist had already sent a message through her: "I am calm and I remain determined".
Constantín was arrested on September 16 when he attended a summons, issued verbally, at a National Police unit in Camagüey.
The regime accuses him of "disobedience" for allegedly failing to appear for a migration summons on September 9, a charge he denies: on that same day, he posted on Facebook that he did go to the Immigration office in Vista Hermosa, but the agents had already left and informed him that he would receive a new notice.
After initially staying in Villa María Luisa, the operational headquarters of State Security in Camagüey, he was transferred without prior notice to Kilo 7 on September 24. The defense reported that during the first five days, they were unable to access the case file, and the habeas corpus petition filed on September 21 faced delays that legal experts deemed illegal.
Reporters Without Borders documented that this is at least the 19th arrest of Constantín related to his journalistic work. The Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP) recorded 26 violations against him between December 2024 and September 2026, including eight arbitrary detentions.
International pressure has not ceased. The U.S. Undersecretary of State Juan Pablo Segura demanded his release on September 30, stating that Constantín's "crime" was "promoting independent media."
The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), PEN International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Civil Rights Defenders have also called for his release.
Constantín has been prohibited from leaving Cuba since 2019, which prevented him from traveling in May to Stockholm to receive the award Civil Rights Defender of the Year that was granted to La Hora de Cuba, the first media outlet in the Americas to receive this honor.
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