The agents urged the reporter to take his passport and go “on a trip,” adding that it would be best for him
14ymedio, Havana, October 10, 2024 — Independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada was questioned this Wednesday by State Security agents in the province of Camagüey. According to his post on social networks, the authorities warned him that “he was on his way to falling into the crimes of being a mercenary and writing propaganda against the Government,” and they threatened to prosecute him under the Social Communication Law.
The appointment, scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon at the Third Police Unit, lasted almost two hours, the journalist said. During that time, Cristian and Laura – the names given by the agents – dedicated themselves to reviewing Tan Estrada’s “counterrevolutionary” trajectory, including his journalistic work and publications on social networks. Although the authorities cited the recently implemented Social Communication Law to intimidate the reporter, the truth is that non-State journalism was already punishable by the Constitution, the Criminal Code and Decree Law 370.
“Cristian, the repressor who has been responsible for several arbitrary arrests against me, showed me a file with all my publications and some alleged witness statements, which they did not show,” said the journalist.
Tan Estrada was questioned about several of his publications, both on independent media such as CubaNet – 0n which he collaborates – and on Facebook. “According to Cristian, I took advantage of the ’tamales boy’ to set up a whole enemy campaign and give a bad image of childhood in the country,” he explained, referring to a photo published by the journalist weeks ago in which a child was seen selling tamales on the street. At that time, the photo caused strong reactions among Cubans, who denounced the case as child labor and organized a collection to help the minor.
Tan Estrada was questioned about his publications, both on independent media and on social networks
The agents urged the reporter to take his passport and go “on a trip,” adding that it would be best for him. They also pointed out that his journalistic work and the media with which he collaborates are spaces “designed to degrade and demoralize the achievements of the Revolution.”
Likewise, the agents cited several names close to Tan Estrada. “They tried to turn me against Laritza Diversent, director of Cubalex, and her work team. ’If you have been given so much advice during this time, tell them that, if they are so sincere, to explain the Social Communication Law, because all of them are there (in exile)’,” said the opponent, and added: “They also mentioned Professor José Raúl Gallego and Lara Crofs, with whom I maintain very strong friendships, and of whom I am very proud to be their friend, and it is no secret to anyone. Cristian says that I have been trained by Professor Gallego and that the links arose when he was my professor at the university, and that I should distance myself from him, because he has shown aggressive behavior against the country on social networks’.”
About Crofs, the pseudonym on the networks of the activist Yamilka Lafita, who mainly denounces social problems, “they said that both Lara and I do not provide any help out of feeling or heart, but to contribute to social degradation,” said Tan Estrada.
After the “monologue” of the agents – as he described it after refusing to talk to State Security – the reporter insisted that he will not stop doing journalism or asking for “the freedom of the more than a thousand political prisoners” that the Regime maintains in its prisons.
After the “monologue” of the agents, the reporter insisted that he will not stop doing journalism
Last July, days before the anniversary of the 11J demonstrations, Tan Estrada was arrested in a park in Camagüey and transferred to the Third Unit. Laura, the same agent who now “interviewed” him, was the one who immobilized him and removed the cell phone with which the journalist was trying to connect to the Internet.
“They gave me a warning notice, which I did not sign and, in addition, they said that if I did not comply with it, I would be prosecuted for disobedience and contempt. I told them, and I say it again here, I will continue to do independent journalism, and I will not turn away my face from injustices,” he said a few hours after being released.
Months earlier, in April, the reporter was arrested after arriving in Havana and detained in Villa Marista, the main headquarters of State Security, where he remained for several days. According to several opponents and organizations, Tan Estrada, in the course of a month, had suffered two interrogations and had been fined 3,000 pesos for violating Decree-Law 370, aimed at controlling and penalizing independent journalistic activity on the Island, among other things.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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