There have been at least 22 repressive incidents against the family since April 2025, according to Iclep.
14ymedio, Havana, October 13, 2026 / Independent journalist Yunia Figueredo reported this Monday that she and her husband, fellow journalist Frank Correa, were detained in the morning by State Security agents and taken to Villa Marista, in Havana, where they remained separated for several hours. “They kept us there until 2:30 in the afternoon. It was extremely horrible,” she said on Facebook.
The arrest kept the couple away from home for practically the entire day. Figueredo said they were not able to return home until five in the afternoon because of transportation difficulties, while their two daughters, one a university student and the other a 14-year-old minor, remained alone at home.
Regarding the detention, on Tuesday the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (Iclep) said that Figueredo had been threatened by a State Security officer identified as Hilda during the interrogation to which she was subjected. During the questioning, the agents referred to a surgical procedure her younger daughter needs: “She will never be able to have the operation if you continue persisting in counterrevolutionary activities.” The officer also told her that the older daughter’s continued enrollment at the university would be at risk.
The journalist remained in police custody for approximately five and a half hours, without access to a bathroom or drinking water. Meanwhile, her husband reported that he had been locked in a cell for more than two hours and had also received threats of travel restrictions and pressure to abandon journalism and leave the country.
Her husband reported that he had been locked in a cell for more than two hours and had also received threats of travel restrictions
Iclep emphasized that this was not an isolated incident, since there has been “a pattern of threats, detentions, and harassment against the Correa-Figueredo family since last year, including a house arrest perimeter in September that prevented them from leaving their home,” as happened to other activists and journalists, including Yoani Sánchez, director of 14ymedio, and her husband, journalist Reinaldo Escobar.
In early September, Iclep requested precautionary measures before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to protect the couple and their two daughters. According to the institute, there have been at least 22 repressive incidents against the family since April 2025.
The Alas Tensas Gender Observatory [also see ‘OGAT’] also condemned the authorities’ harassment of the couple. In particular, it raised concerns about “the minors, whose well-being and protection must be guaranteed by the Cuban authorities.”
The journalist was also detained in Jaimanitas, in Havana’s Playa municipality, after participating in one of the pot-banging protests
Last March, the journalist was also detained in Jaimanitas, in Havana’s Playa municipality, after participating in one of the pot-banging protests in the capital against the blackouts.
At the time, her husband said the arrest took place at around 5 p.m., amid a police operation in the neighborhood. “The detention took place in front of their daughters and during a blackout.” During the arrest, the agents threw the journalist’s phone to the ground.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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