The political police are increasing their repressive actions as the anniversary of 11J approaches.
14ymedio, Havana, 30 June 2025 — Independent journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro was arrested this Sunday in the city of Camagüey. Shortly after his arrest the director of La Hora de Cuba was transferred to the State Security Operations Department, known as Villa María Luisa, according to his colleague, reporter Iris Mariño.
Constantín was arrested while accompanying Mariño to a meeting with the political police at the Third Police Unit in Camagüey. When they both arrived, the officers asked the journalist to show his ID and, minutes later, handcuffed him and put him in a patrol car with the number 230, Mariño explained in a video.
Constantín’s arrest comes just days before the country’s Independence Day celebration next Wednesday at the residence of the current U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Cuba, Mike Hammer. The celebration, which annually attracts artists, cultural figures, and dissidents, is taking place this year amid a fierce official campaign against Washington’s representative on the island.
Some colleagues point to an attempt to prevent Constantín from traveling to Havana to attend the commemoration as the reason for his arrest, as well as an intention to neutralize him in view of the fourth anniversary of the Island-wide popular protests of 11 July 2021. Others, such as journalist José Raúl Gallego, a resident of Mexico, point to another motivation behind the arrest.
The State Security Officer known as “Luis” said that Constantín could be prosecuted for the crime of contempt because of his publication.
“Henry is being held, accused of denouncing a State Security officer in a Facebook post that appeared on the La Hora de Cuba page. They want to continue attacking in the shadows, without their names being known, and then, when push comes to shove, cross the border or become micro-enterprises,” he denounced. A criminal investigator, who identified himself as “Luis,” assured Mariño that Constantín could be prosecuted for the crime of contempt because of that post.
This Monday, news also broke that on June 30th, ” Major Manuel and another military officer showed up at Dagoberto Valdés Hernández’s house to say they would not allow him to attend the American Embassy reception,” according to a statement from the Center for Coexistence Studies, of which Valdés is the director. Last week, State Security summoned him and his colleague Yoandy Izquierdo to threaten them to not travel to Havana.
The officer warned both of them that they should not go out on the street on 11 July either.
The reason for boycotting the celebration is, according to Manuel, that Hammer “is visiting counterrevolutionary elements,” referring to the many trips he has made within the island to meet with opponents, relatives of political prisoners, Catholic priests critical of the regime, and ordinary Cubans who have invited him to learn how they are experiencing the current economic crisis.
The officer reminded Valdés and Izquierdo about Law 80, “which prohibits and punishes collaboration with enemy foreign governments in its Article 8 and others.” The officer warned both of them not to go out on the streets on 11 July, and insinuated that Valdés was a “public figure” and that the enemies wanted to manipulate and “attract them to terrorist projects.”
The anniversary of the largest popular protests against the Cuban regime comes during a summer of extreme social tension due to the deepening economic crisis, the lack of hope for a short-term solution, increased repression with nearly 1,000 political prisoners in the island’s jails, and prolonged blackouts that threaten a new collapse of the national energy system.
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