Cubalex warns of escalating repression in the lead-up to the anniversary of the 11 July 2021 protests, ’11J’
14ymedio, Madrid, June 26, 2026 / The NGO Cubalex confirmed this Thursday the arrest of at least seven people in the municipality of Contramaestre, four of them minors, after the incidents that occurred on June 21 around the Orlando “Olo” Pantoja Tamayo Memorial House, known as the “Maffo Museum”.
According to a statement released by the organization, while the building burned, neighbors gathered nearby demanded “electricity and freedom,” amid growing discontent over blackouts, food shortages, and the severity of the crisis facing the population. Following the fire, police and state security forces launched a large-scale operation in the La Cuba neighborhood and other areas of Maffo, where arrests began.
Cubalex has managed to confirm the identities of four of those arrested: José Ángel Borrero Zorrilla, 17; José Jorge Menéndez Vázquez, also 17; Luis Alberto Leyva, around 20 years old; and Yordi Daniel Gómez Aguilar, 21. The organization warns that the number is an undercount and does not rule out the possibility of more arrests.
According to information gathered and disseminated by the NGO, several of these people were transferred to the Versalles Criminal Operations and Instruction Center in Santiago de Cuba, where they remain incommunicado and without official information about their legal status.
In recent weeks, several young people have been subjected to citations, threats, temporary arrests, and other acts of intimidation.
The organization also warned that the arrests are occurring amidst a climate of increasing persecution in Santiago de Cuba. In recent weeks, several young people have been subjected to citations, threats, temporary arrests, and other acts of intimidation—a trend that Cubalex links to the approaching fifth anniversary of the 11 July 2021 protests.
Cubalex emphasized the situation of detained minors. It noted that in Cuba, criminal responsibility begins at age 16, allowing adolescents to be tried in ordinary courts, subjected to initial interrogations without the mandatory presence of lawyers or family members, and sent to pretrial detention—a practice criticized by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Reports of increased repression in Santiago de Cuba had already begun circulating days earlier. The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), José Daniel Ferrer, reported on his social media accounts on June 22 that among those arrested was 16-year-old Cristian Fernández Sarmientos, who was being held at the Versalles detention center.
Ferrer also identified other detainees: Adrián Planché Hierrezuelo, Yodelkis Jay Ramírez, and Alexander Castañeda Alarcón, an X-ray technician at the Southern Children’s Hospital in Santiago de Cuba. The opposition leader, in exile since October 2025, added that the arrests continue and the police are targeting those “suspected of protesting against the blackouts.” He also added that the families of other detainees are refusing to provide information for fear of reprisals.
The arrests come after several consecutive nights of pot-banging protests in various neighborhoods of Santiago de Cuba. Residents of Micro 7, Altamira, Veguita de Galo, Mármol, Antonio Maceo, Chicharrones, and other areas have taken to the streets to demand the restoration of electricity service, in some cases after receiving only two hours of power per day.
The escalating repression coincides with the approach of the fifth anniversary of 11J, a date that keeps State Security on high alert.
Cubalex maintains that, in addition to physical repression, authorities have intensified communication restrictions and internet outages coinciding with citizen demonstrations. This repressive escalation coincides with the approach of the fifth anniversary of July 11—the largest wave of anti-government protests in Cuba since 1959—a date that keeps State Security on high alert, as evidenced by the recent enforced disappearance and death threats against opposition leader Manuel Cuesta Morúa for expressing his support for the protests.
The Cuban Observatory for Freedom of Expression (ICLEP) also denounced the repression of a protest that took place on June 19 in the Barbosa neighborhood of the Playa municipality in Havana, where residents took to the streets after more than 30 hours without electricity. According to the organization, riot police dispersed the demonstration using force. Regarding this protest, Cubalex confirmed the arrests of Yoan Arévalo Álvarez, Yosvan Arévalo Álvarez, Dayron Chamizo, and Héctor Ramón Aroche Olivero. The whereabouts of the four remain unconfirmed.
ICLEP maintains that the operation involved the deployment of several trucks with members of the Rapid Response Brigades and that the total number of detainees could exceed 16, a figure not yet independently verified. The organization also reported that one of those detained, Arévalo Álvarez, sustained significant injuries following the police intervention, and his current health status and whether he has received medical attention or legal representation are unknown.
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