There is another operation by the political police in the basement of our building to prevent us from leaving our homes.
14ymedio, Havana, Yoani Sánchez, 3 February 2026 — The cold is the talk of the town in Havana. But dictatorships don’t understand low temperatures or freezing winds. This Tuesday, there’s a political police operation in the basement of our building to prevent us from leaving our homes. What’s the reason for this blockade that restricts our freedom of movement and condemns us to not being able to buy food or take out the trash? We don’t know. It is not a significant date on the official calendar, we are not invited to any diplomatic reception, and in our neighborhood, no visitors are expected other than the battalion of flies and mosquitoes that buzzes around the mountains of garbage.
A neighbor told us it might be the Cuban regime’s nervousness in the face of pressure from Washington and the events that have been unfolding in Venezuela for the past month. However, I struggle to define what danger my husband and I could pose on this international political chessboard where we are, at best, tiny, defenseless presences. Is some official coming to inaugurate a project amidst the dirty, dilapidated streets of this area? Is a military exercise about to take place in the trenches formed by the potholes in the sidewalks that surround us? Is the stench emanating from the garbage piled up on the street corners about to multiply in the coming hours?
With the thread of internet we have, we confirm that other journalists and activists suffer the same harassment at their homes.
We have no answer, because Cuban State Security behaves with impunity, failing to explain to citizens the reasons for violating their rights.
With the thread of internet we have, we confirm that other journalists and activists suffer the same harassment at their homes: Dagoberto Valdés in Pinar del Río, Wilber Aguilar Bravo in La Güinera, and Camila Acosta and Ángel Santiesteban in central Havana. From Camagüey, reports indicate the arrest of Henry Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba , and Alejandra García, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
When a state blocks defenseless people from walking freely through a city, it demonstrates its fear. That repressive forces must spend hours stationed outside our building, disrupting our daily lives, reveals the fragility of a power that fears a couple of journalists armed only with their words.
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