14ymedio, Havana, 7 July 2019 — The activist and independent reporter Iliana Hernández was released this Sunday after spending almost 24 hours in detention after being arrested the previous day at a bus stop in Cojímar, in the province of Havana, while participating through the social network Twitter in the campaign to #BajenLosPreciosDeInternet (Lower the Prices of Internet).
At the time of the arrest, Hernandez managed to send a tweet warning that she was being taken away by the police. “Hey, they’re taking me,” she published in the social network.
A collaborator on the CiberCuba site, Hernandez was transferred to the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) Station in Guanabo. Minutes after being released this Sunday, Hernandez told this newspaper that she was alone in a cell from the time of her arrival at the station and during all that time she was never interrogated. “I’m going to keep moving forward,” she said about her activism and her job as a reporter. “This happens at any time, they [the system ] have tremendous fear,” she added.
The activist Boris González Arenas denounced on Facebook that from the moment of the arrest it was not possible to communicate with Hernández through his mobile. “I call Iliana Hernandez’s telephone number and the same voice always answers me, which says it’s off or out of the coverage area, a voice that becomes familiar to many mothers and fathers, brothers, couples and children, when they detain their loved ones.”
“I am experiencing today the suffering of the other, that of my wife and my friends when I am locked in a cell. Neither is preferable, freedom for Iliana Hernández,” González demanded.
Taylor Torres Escalona, a journalist and coordinator of the site YucaByte, also joined the complaint and commented that Hernández “has had to deal with arbitrary detention after arbitrary detention, her human rights are constantly being violated.”
In May, during an independent march organized by the LGBTI community, Hernández was violently arrested on the Paseo del Prado. Last Wednesday the activist again suffered a repressive act, when agents of the State Security tried to prevent her from meeting with a group of friends to celebrate her 46th birthday.
Hernández has been one of the most active voices in the call to the Telecommunications Company of Cuba, Etecsa, to reduce and improve the quality of its web browsing services. For five consecutive weekends, thousands of users of the state monopoly have made the hashtag #BajenLosPreciosDeInternet a trending topic on Twitter.
_____________________
The 14ymedio team is committed to serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time by becoming a member of 14ymedio. Together we can continue to transform journalism in Cuba.
