14ymedio, Havana, 31 July 2020 — Independent journalist Camila Acosta*, a reporter for Cubanet, was detained this Friday by Interior Ministry officials while she was in Havana’s Central Park.
Two uniformed women asked the reporter for her identity card and also for the phone number with which she was transmitting what had happened to social networks.
“No, I’m not going to give you my phone number,” Acosta is heard saying before the video stops. In the last seconds, the voice of an officer is also distinguished, telling the reporter that she had to accompany them to the patrol car.
Meanwhile, CiberCuba activist and reporter Iliana Hernández* was also detained near the Police Station located on Calzada de Infanta y Manglar, in Havana, where she had been informed that her colleague was arrested. “We have located Camila Acosta, she is on Infanta,” Hernández wrote before being detained.
Just before four, Iliana Hernández announced on her networks that she had been released and that the officers had taken her to her home. Upon arrival she made a live broadcast on Facebook where she said: “I get up in the morning and another day of surveillance.” She also said that Maykel Osorbo** also had an operation outside his house and that reporters Esteban Rodríguez and Héctor Luis Valdés were arrested.
Valdés was released within a few hours with a fine of 150 Cuban pesos. In a Facebook post, he said that officers told him that he had been fined “for trying to commit public disorder.”
After almost 10 hours of detention, the journalist Camila Acosta was released. During the arrest, they forced her to take off her clothes, confiscated 160 convertible pesos, papers, a USB memory stick, medicines and 17 face masks that said “No to 370.” This was reported in a statement that was broadcast live on Facebook Live.
Last Thursday, several journalists and activists also denounced State Security operations in their homes to prevent them from going outside.
Artists such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara*, Tania Bruguera* and independent journalist Esteban Rodríguez, a collaborator with ADN Cuba, have denounced a similar situation.
Translator’s notes:
*The links here are to the individuals’ Twitter accounts, should readers care to follow them.
**See also: Tendencia Cubana
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