The diplomatic mission in Havana celebrates the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, and State Security responds with arrests, summonses, and police operations.
14ymedio, Havana, July 2, 2026 — Leonardo Romero Negrín, an activist and former political prisoner from the 11 July 2021 ’11J’ protests, was arrested Wednesday night in Central Havana for taking part in a pot-banging protest. According to Lisbeth Moya González, it happened “with tremendous violence.”
“They told his family they would have information at 8:30 this morning, and now it turns out his case file can’t be found and that they’ll have news at 10,” the activist wrote on social media early Thursday. Romero Negrín, whose ribs were broken during the 11J protests and who was released under the constant threat that authorities would reopen charges of public disorder against him, was arrested, she added, “for doing what every decent Cuban should be doing right now.”
Because of this arbitrary detention, and that of Fernando Ginarte Mora two days earlier in Contramaestre (Santiago de Cuba), the Cuban Observatory for Freedom of Expression (OCLE) has issued an alert demanding their release. Ginarte Mora was arrested days after meeting with the head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer.
This Thursday, as the U.S. mission holds its traditional annual dinner marking the Fourth of July at Hammer’s residence in Havana, dissidents have received police summonses, while independent journalists have been unable to leave their homes because of police operations deployed outside their residences.
The 14ymedio newsroom in Nuevo Vedado, was surrounded from early morning to prevent Yoani Sánchez and Reinaldo Escobar from going anywhere
This is the case of the 14ymedio newsroom, in Nuevo Vedado, which was surrounded from early morning to prevent Yoani Sánchez and Reinaldo Escobar from going anywhere. The same happened to Camila Acosta, a contributor to CubaNet and the Spanish newspaper ABC, who reported that several political police agents were monitoring her home. “The operation is stronger than usual,” she said.
According to José Raúl Gallego, José Elías Agüero, former political prisoner Alexander Díaz, Marthadela Tamayo and Osvaldo Navarro are also being held to prevent them from attending the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States.
In Pinar del Río, activists Lisandra Orraca and Irina León, members of the Latin American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR) and the Republican Party of Cuba, were also prevented from leaving their homes. In the same province, two days ago, State Security harassed Dagoberto Valdés and Yoandy Izquierdo, members of Convivencia, with the same objective: to prevent them from traveling to Havana to accept Mike Hammer’s invitation. According to a post by Valdés, Agent John of the political police told him he couldn’t go to the capital that day, but “that if he needed to travel to Havana another day, he should call him.” The layperson replied that “he wasn’t going to ask for permission to go to Havana.”
Anna Sofía Benítez, known on social media as Anna Bensi, received a summons ordering her to appear today at the Alamar police station. “Obviously the situation is a disaster because they do everything wrong except repress people—that’s what they’re experts at,” the influencer had said in a video. She also expressed surprise that the document read “official warning” instead of “interview,” as on previous occasions when State Security had summoned her. “They are a dictatorship. We all know what they’re going to do: repress and threaten,” she predicted.
The YouTuber siblings Betty and Abel, hosts of the program Fuera de la Caja, also received an “official warning” ordering them to report to the Diez de Octubre police station, as did Rolando Fidel Pérez, known as Pregonero de Cristo. Announcing the notification on Facebook, Pérez declared: “I have committed no crime. My only crime is thinking differently. My only crime is preaching freedom. My only crime is saying that Cuba belongs to Christ.”
“What is this ‘warning’ for?” Pérez asked, answering himself: “To silence me. To frighten me. To make me stop denouncing the blackouts, the hunger, and the prisons full of innocent people.” In a lengthy post, he held “the National Revolutionary Police, State Security, and the Cuban dictatorship responsible for anything that happens to me or my family. Any ‘accident.’ Any ‘suicide.’ Any disappearance.”
“Why does the regime mind so badly that ordinary Cubans participate in an event that celebrates freedom?”
For their part, Betty and Abel mocked the official notice because it carried the wrong date—June 2—and was barely legible due to a lack of ink, in addition to being “poorly written” and “outside all legal deadlines.” According to the young woman, “this only demonstrates that this regime treats the law as nothing more than decoration.”
The siblings’ father recorded a video denouncing that, despite the legal two-hour limit, they still had not been released. He and his wife went to the police station to demand information. “The explanation they gave us was that they had several people to interview.” By then, Betty had already been questioned and was able to briefly tell them that “everything went calmly and without any major problems,” yet she still was not allowed to leave. Abel had not yet been questioned by the officers.
State Security, therefore, found itself overwhelmed by the growing number of summonses. The fuel and resource crisis has not affected the Ministry of the Interior.
The U.S. Embassy has not remained silent in the face of these operations. “What do you think about State Security threatening Cubans who attend or come to work at events, such as the U.S. Independence Day celebration?” it asks on its official Facebook page . “Many have said that the regime is preventing them from attending our Freedom250 event. Why does it bother the regime so much that ordinary Cubans participate in an event that celebrates freedom?”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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