Former political prisoner Ángel Cuza was also arrested and transferred to Combinado del Este.
14ymedio, Havana, 31 July 2025 — After eight months of being held in “provisional detention,” the Prosecutor’s Office finally submitted a request to the Provincial Court of Villa Clara for sanctions against Cuban journalist and 14ymedio contributor José Gabriel Barrenechea. In the document, signed on June 25 and to which this newspaper had access, prosecutor Ayrebi Miranda Pérez requests a six-year prison sentence for the crime of public disorder.
According to a relative of Barrenechea, the writer’s defense now has 26 business days to “study the case.” “Then we will be notified of the trial,” he added.
The petition submitted by the Prosecutor’s Office, which includes the names of the other defendants accused of protesting against the blackouts in the municipality of Encrucijada in November 2024, describes Barrenechea’s crime: having shouted “Turn on the power, we want the power,” in chorus with other protesters, and “thoroughly urging that the people present not desist from their actions.”
The document also refers to the journalist as a citizen with no criminal record, but who “associates with people of poor moral character and social conduct, and has no recognized employment relationship.”
They are also asking for sentences of four to nine years for the other five protesters arrested during the protest.
Nine years are also being sought for Yandri Torres Quintana and Rafael Javier Camacho Herrera, five for Rodel Bárbaro Rodríguez Espinosa and Marcos Daniel Díaz Rodríguez, and four for Yuniesky Lorences Domínguez, all of whom participated in the protests along with dozens of other residents of the municipality.
Recently, the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba included the prosecutor in the case, Ayrebi Miranda Pérez, on its list of repressors for “requesting severe and unjust prison sentences” for the Encrucijada protesters. “The prosecutor has nothing else to describe in his provisional conclusions except that the defendants carried and touched cauldrons and shouted ’we want electricity,’” the platform criticized.
José Gabriel Barrenechea was arrested on November 7 in Encrucijada after protesting, and three days later, his family had no news of his whereabouts. He had been held at the Santa Clara Police Investigation Unit, where he was interrogated. Initially, authorities attempted to charge him with sedition, but the journalist himself reported that they had dropped the charge and instead charged him with “public disorder.”
Last June, the Provincial Court of Villa Clara rejected a request for release for Barrenechea, who had already spent several months in pretrial detention awaiting trial at La Pendiente prison. During his time in prison, Barrenechea suffered the death of his mother , who was dependent on him, and he was only allowed to attend her funeral for an hour and a half.
Police confirmed the accusation against Cuza: “He is in prison because a projectile was found on him,” clarified a political police officer.
Another political prisoner, Ángel Cuza, released last May after completing his sentence and re-arrested last Friday, now faces new charges. The activist, according to the Cultural Rights Observatory, was arrested during “the repressive campaigns unleashed by State Security around the pro-government celebrations for July 26th” and transferred to the Vivac detention center in Havana. According to activist Anamely Ramos, in addition to his complaints about the case on social media, “they want to accuse him of possessing explosives or something similar. And it’s all because of a small bullet he carried around and has had for years.”
In a call to the police station where he was detained before being transferred to Vivac, activist Keilylli de la Mora confirmed the accusation: “He’s in prison because a bullet was found on him,” an officer told her. Currently, several activists and organizations have reported, Cuza remains in Combinado del Este.
According to De la Mora, the object “is a bullet he’s had for a long time and used as a safe. He even had it from his previous incarceration.” Ramos said something similar, noting that bullet casings are often used as souvenirs. “Ángel has eaten very little since his arrest, because at the time he was detained, he hadn’t eaten. They haven’t let him have practically anything yet,” he added.
Cuza was released from prison last May after serving a year and a half in Combinado del Este prison in the capital. The artist had been arrested in December 2022 outside a store in the capital, while waiting in line to buy chicken. He was accused of “disturbing public order” for carrying “sticks and stones,” a charge both he and eyewitnesses denied.
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