The opposition leader was abandoned on a road in Artemisa after being intimidated for supporting protests called for the anniversary of the Island-wide ’11J’ protests of 2021
14ymedio, Madrid, June 21, 2026 / Cuban opposition leader Manuel Cuesta Morúa was released this Saturday after being detained, mistreated and threatened with death by State Security agents.
The Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC)—an organization chaired by Cuesta Morúa— had denounced his forced disappearance hours earlier, stating that he was being held incommunicado. The opposition member was arrested at the Zanja police station in Central Havana, handcuffed, and forcibly taken away in a patrol car along with two State Security agents and two police officers.
According to information released by the CTDC this Sunday, Cuesta Morúa was beaten and threatened with death during the ride in the patrol car. The organization also reported that the officers confiscated his wallet and destroyed his identity card in his presence.
Instead of being taken to a detention center, Cuesta Morúa was taken to an isolated area in the province of Artemisa. According to the complaint, officers forced him through a fence into a densely wooded area, where he was physically assaulted and threatened with death.
There, the agents warned him that they would shoot him in the head “if he continued to promote ‘the pot-banging protests’ and encourage citizens to demonstrate on 11 July.”
The officers warned him that they would shoot him in the head “if he continued to promote ‘the pot-banging protests’ and encourage citizens to demonstrate on July 11th.”
The allusion refers to a campaign driven by activists calling on Cubans to demand the release of political prisoners and to protest against food shortages, blackouts, and the lack of drinking water, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Island-wide anti-government demonstrations of 11 July 2021.
Cuesta Morúa was abandoned by the officers on the road known as Ocho Vías, in Artemisa, without documents, money, or means of communication. According to the complaint, he remained there for five to six hours until a passerby helped him and took him back to Havana.
In a statement released Sunday, the organization described the incident as part of a “systematic pattern of action by the Cuban regime” against those who peacefully exercise their rights and demand greater freedoms. “Any Cuban citizen can be a victim of repression for expressing their opinions or demanding democratic changes,” the statement reads.
“Any Cuban citizen can be a victim of repression for expressing their opinions or demanding democratic changes.”
In this regard, the organization calls on the international community, democratic governments, international bodies and human rights organizations to recognize this reality and “join the Cuban people’s demand for an immediate end to the human rights violations that the Cuban regime constantly perpetrates against its own people.”
A philosopher and historian by training, Manuel Cuesta Morúa is one of the best-known figures in the Cuban opposition and has suffered numerous arrests and acts of harassment for his political activism. Since January 2026, he has presided over the CTDC —one of the main platforms for coordinating the opposition both on and off the island—after succeeding José Daniel Ferrer, who went into exile in Miami in October 2025.
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