The academic spent ten hours under arrest and will provide more details this Friday.
EFE/14ymedio, Havana, June 19, 2026 – Academic and dissident Alina Bárbara López Hernández was once again detained this Thursday in Matanzas during her customary peaceful protest held on the 18th of every month, according to a family source.
“Alina has just been detained in Parque de la Libertad while attempting to exercise her right to peaceful protest,” confirmed Cecilia Borroto López, the intellectual’s daughter, on social media.
Borroto also indicated that her mother was allegedly taken to a police station located in the Playa district of Matanzas.
Borroto also indicated that her mother was allegedly taken to a police station located in the Playa district of Matanzas
Later that night, Borroto reported on social media that the academic “was released after ten hours” and advised that on Friday she herself would provide more details about the detention.
Hours earlier, the historian, essayist, and editor had published a message on social media commenting on the package of economic reforms approved the previous day by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
“They are trying to buy time. That is an old stratagem of the ruling group,” López commented, arguing that the proposals are “more or less the same” as those put forward but never implemented nineteen years ago, referring to the “Updating of the Cuban Economic and Social Model” promoted in 2007 by then-President Raúl Castro. At that time, the proposals were not known in such detail; the measures ultimately do involve economic changes, but not political ones.
“So much reform, and today they took away Alina Bárbara López Hernández under arrest. So much reform without releasing the political prisoners. So much reform, and repression continues. This is the real fraudulent change,” commented activist Adriana Ryukiyoi.
The academic has been detained several times in recent years for carrying out symbolic protests, and as a result of those actions she was sentenced at the end of 2023 to pay a fine for the offense of disobedience, which she refused to do.
The academic has been detained several times in recent years for carrying out symbolic protests, and as a result of those actions she was sentenced at the end of 2023 to pay a fine for the offense of disobedience, which she refused to do
She is also awaiting trial since late 2025 after prosecutors charged her with the alleged offenses of disobedience, contempt, and assault in connection with a detention that occurred exactly two years ago yesterday, on June 18, 2024. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of four years of corrective labor.
The events occurred when López and fellow academic and dissident Jenny Pantola, for whom prosecutors are seeking one year less of corrective labor, were traveling by taxi from Matanzas to Havana with the intention of participating in a protest event.
According to López, she asked about the legality of the detention and the reasons for it, to which a police officer responded with multiple acts of violence. Prosecutors, for their part, stated that it was López who struggled with and insulted the officers, and that the physical injuries alleged by both women “were not real.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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