His mother says four police officers beat him during the arrest, and independent organizations are demanding an investigation into the case.
14ymedio, Madrid, July 28, 2026 – Alex Javier Hernández González, a 13-year-old boy, was detained for his alleged participation in last Wednesday’s protests in Santiago de las Vegas, Havana, according to his mother and confirmed by independent organizations including Cubalex, Justicia 11J, and the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press (ICLEP).
According to the woman’s testimony in a video shared on social media, her son was violently arrested by police during the operation deployed to suppress the pot-banging protest, in which residents were demonstrating over the lack of electricity. He is currently being held at the juvenile detention center known as “El Combinadito” in Havana.
The mother said she was able to visit him and confirmed the injuries he suffered during the arrest. Photographs she released show wounds to the boy’s face, neck, and back. According to her testimony, the police claim the injuries were caused by other protesters, but her son insisted that four uniformed officers beat him during the arrest.
While Álex Javier was being assaulted, her account continues, he pleaded with the officers to stop beating him because he was a minor. According to his mother, the boy was unable to escape because he was wearing flip-flops and could not run as fast as the other protesters.
Far from being isolated incidents, these cases reflect the continuation of a policy of criminalizing minors in the context of protests and violating their rights
Cubalex reported that this is not the first time excessive use of force by police during public protests has affected minors. “Far from being isolated incidents, these cases reflect the continuation of a policy of criminalizing minors in the context of protests and violating their rights, as previously warned by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child,” the organization stated.
Justicia 11J also denounced the arrest and recalled that “the Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes that the deprivation of liberty of minors must be a measure of last resort, applied for the shortest appropriate period of time, and that every child must be protected from violence and treated with dignity and humanity.”
The Cuban Observatory for Freedom of Expression, a project of ICLEP, recorded the case under the category of “physical assaults,” considering it an alleged act of violence against a minor during the repression of public demonstrations.
The organizations demanded that the authorities clarify the facts and investigate the allegations of police violence. They also called for the protection of Álex Javier’s physical and psychological well-being, that his family be kept informed, and that the enhanced guarantees recognized under international law for every minor deprived of liberty be respected.
“The Black Berets Were Saying: ‘Whoever They Catch on the Street Gets Beaten… Beat Everyone'”
During last Wednesday’s protests in Santiago de las Vegas, in Havana’s Boyeros municipality, demonstrators marched through the streets banging pots and chanting, “We want electricity!” until they reached the National Police station, where authorities had deployed a police cordon.
According to Cubalex, when the demonstrators attempted to continue toward the local headquarters of the Communist Party with the same demands, they were intercepted by members of the Interior Ministry’s special forces, known as the “Black Berets,” who suppressed the protest and made several arrests. The organization has not yet been able to confirm how many people were detained or their identities.
According to witnesses who spoke to Martí Noticias, the operation resulted in numerous detainees at the Santiago de las Vegas police station and direct threats from the special forces against anyone who remained in the streets. “The Black Berets were saying, ‘Whoever they catch on the street gets beaten… Beat everyone,’” one witness recounted.
Protests over blackouts and the deteriorating living conditions are becoming increasingly frequent both in Havana and in other provinces as the energy crisis worsens. Despite increased surveillance and the police response, pot-banging protests, road blockades, and the burning of garbage piles continue to occur almost every night in different municipalities across the capital.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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