Cuban Government Releases Daniela Rojo, But Arrests a Child Under 15 at School

Reniel Rodríguez was taken out of class this Wednesday and driven away in a police vehicle. (Twitter)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 18 November 2021 — Daniela Rojo was released this Wednesday, as confirmed by the activist herself by telephone to 14ymedio in a brief conversation.

The young woman, moderator of the Archipiélago platform and architect of the initiative for the 15N (15 November) Civic March for Change in Guabanacoa, had been missing for five days and the group to which she belongs had filed a writ of habeas corpus hours before to demand knowledge of her situation before the Criminal Chamber of the Court Provincial of Havana. During the July 11 protests, Rojo had already been detained for a month.

In the text, the refusal of the Police to provide the place of her detention was highlighted and that she had not been able to communicate with her relatives. “She is not registered as a detainee in any arrest record of the Police units that have been called to find out her whereabouts.”

Archipiélago also indicates that Rojo is not the perpetrator of “any crime” and that there was no “complaint against her, nor arrest warrant.” In addition, the platform indicated that her physical and mental health was unknown, and that her personal integrity was in danger “by not having any legal security.”

After her release, the activist Mag Jorge Castro celebrated the fact on Twitter and invited people to continue to demand the same resolution for other cases. “Daniela Rojo is free and with her two little ones … the pressure works, now we go for the others … there are hundreds left.”

However, a few minutes later he himself reported the arrest of Reniel Rodríguez. The 15-year-old activist, who runs the Lunatico Debates channel and is the founder of Alianza Juvenil Libertaria (ALJ) (Youth Freedom Alliance), was apparently taken to a Investigation Center in Matanzas.

According to his account, the boy was notified around 11:00 in the morning by a teacher from his school, who asked him to accompany him. They then put him in a police car. “As of now he has not been released. He is only 15 years old, he is a child who will be branded for life, you cowards!” the activist wrote.

The ALJ reported at midnight its leader’s apparent situation via Twitter. “Our colleague, Reniel, is in the EFI (Comprehensive Training School). These centers are run by the Ministry of the Interior, where a complete indoctrination and behavior change for young people is ensured. His head was shaved and he only has access to one call,” they wrote.

This Thursday, the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH), based in Madrid, offered a public accounting according to which there were “more than 400 repressive actions” on the island during the last week.

Among them, as of Friday, about 120 house arrests with police surveillance, 62 summons to police stations, 50 acts of threats and almost 90 arrests, as well as 14 acts of repudiation and 35 cuts to Internet services are calculated.

The organization has highlighted in a statement the importance of focusing attention on “the victims of the regime,” and demands the release of all those who have been detained for “exercising the rights to freedom of expression and demonstration.”

The Observatory has asked the European Union that the actions of the Government, led by Miguel Díaz-Canel, have “political consequences… Let us reiterate our call to activate the mechanisms contemplated in the EU’s Political Dialogue Agreement with Cuba,” hit demands.

In addition to the arrests related to the 15N, the NGO Cubalex, a legal information center, reviewed this Wednesday the situation of the detainees as a result of the protests of the 11J, which stood at 1,271. Of these, at least 659 are still in prison, 42 have been convicted in summary trials and 8 in ordinary trials.

For 269 more people, according to the report, there are requests for prison sentences ranging from one to 30 years. Cubalex considers of particular concern “the use of the figure of sedition to impose exemplary sanctions on at least 122 people.”

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