14ymedio, Havana, 21 June 2018 — Inalkis Rodriguez, member of the independent magazine Cuba’s Hour, was summoned Thursday by State Security in Camaguey to inform her that she has been accused by the Office of the Historian for, supposedly, having painted “posters on the facade” of the house of Iris Marino, as reported by the publication’s editor, Henry Constantin, to 14ymedio.
In the interrogation, almost an hour in length, they prohibited Rodriguez from leaving the province or country without prior authorization. “She must present herself next Tuesday to the same police unit,” complains the independent journalist.
Iris Marino, actress and team member for Cuba’s Hour, decided at the end of May with her husband and well-known theater actor, Mario Junquera, to convert the facade of their home into a public platform for graphic expression.
“Some posters degrading my husband and my family showed up on the facade of the house. The expressions mocked his politics, so he decided to denounce the fact to the prosecutor and the police,” says Marino.
After inaction by the justice agencies, the actress and her husband called for “everyone” who might want to leave a thought on the facade to do it.
“They can come to this space of freedom here at 77 Padre Valencia and leave opinions in favor or against,” explained Marino to this daily. So far there is graffiti that recalls expressions by Jose Marti and others that support or criticize the government. The couple’s home is just across from Camaguey’s principal theatre, in an area that is managed by the city’s Office of the Historian because that site was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2008.
The journalists of Cuba’s Hour have been frequently accosted by police authorities who impede their work. Henry Constantin, Iris Marino Garcia and Sol Garcia Basulto were threatened with being charged with the crime of “usurpation of legal capacity” — i.e. working in a profession without a legal license to do so — for their journalistic work, which could result in them spending a year in jail.
Translated by Mary Lou Keel
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