I verified that every day dozens or even hundreds of people are arrested in Havana for the simple fact of not having an address in the capital on their identity card
Yoani Sánchez – Generation Y – Journalist, founder and director of 14ymedio, Havana, November 6, 2026 / I express my deepest gratitude to those who denounced arbitrary arrest this Thursday, demanded my release, and stood with me in solidarity. Every message, every denunciation, and every voice raised was essential. Thank you for not leaving me alone.
But I also left that cell with a denunciation I cannot keep silent about. There, I witnessed with horror that every day dozens, even hundreds, of people are detained in Havana simply for not having a Havana address on their identity cards. They are prosecuted as “illegals” and subjected to forced deportations to their home provinces. The two words I heard most often during my confinement were “illegals” and “deportation.” Cubans treated like garbage in their own country.
I also denounce the absolute subservience of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) to State Security. The officers, patrols, and police facilities are used as instruments of political repression, at the service of those who persecute and punish the exercise of citizens’ freedoms.
In this video I share my experience, my gratitude and, above all, my concern for those who remain locked up without their names reaching social media or their stories appearing in the headlines.
Thank you again for helping me regain my freedom. Let’s not forget those who still don’t have it.
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