The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) condemned this Thursday the arrest of Cuban independent journalists Henry Constantín and Neife Rigau, an action that "is framed in a context of repression, police persecution and intolerance of criticism and freedom of expression and of the press" on the island, as reported in a statement.
Constantín and Rigau, director and photographer of the magazine La Hora de Cuba, respectively, were arrested on the night of April 30 in Camagüey, after leaving a function at the city’s Teatro Principal.
The director of La Hora de Cuba told the IAPA that the agents did not present legal documents to explain the arrest and did not identify themselves.
Both were transferred to the State Security Operations headquarters, where Constantín, regional vice president for Cuba of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information since 2016, denounced that he was the victim of abuse by a police officer. Revolutionary National (PNR) that pushed him hard and then, on the ground, stepped on him.
The IAPA, based in Miami, listed in the note journalists from different independent media who days before were also summoned and questioned, including Juan Manuel Moreno, Frank Abel García, Camila Acosta, Ismario Rodríguez, Yoe Suárez, Yunia Figueredo, Frank Correa, Anaya Remón, María Matienzo, Miriam Celaya and Lisbeth Moya.
María Lucía Expósito, Ariel Maceo, Regina Coyula, Mabel Páez and Geysa Guia were also interrogated.
He also denounced that two independent journalists arrested after the citizen protests of July 11, 2021 are still in prison. Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca, director of the digital blog and YouTube channel Delibera, was sentenced to six years in prison, and Jorge Bello Domínguez, a member of the Cuban Network of Independent Journalists, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
IAPA President Jorge Canahuati accused the Cuban regime of applying its repressive tactics against independent journalists for committing "the serious crime" to exercise their right to freedom of expression.
He added that journalists are persecuted to break their commitment to the profession.
Canahuati, president of the Honduran Grupo Opsa, said that self-censorship of journalists is sought through arbitrary arrests, surveillance and prohibition from leaving their homes and the country, and they are directly interrogated, fined and threatened. or their relatives.
The president of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, reiterated his solidarity with journalists and independent media in Cuba that, "despite the pressure, they continue to fight to exercise their profession in freedom"said.
After his arrest, Constantín received a warning notice in which he was threatened with being prosecuted for the crimes of public disorder, incitement to commit a crime, illegal demonstration and disobedience if he left his house on May 1.
He and Rigau were taken to their home, which State Security kept under surveillance throughout the day.
The reason for the arrest appears to be linked to a post by Rigau on Facebook. The photojournalist criticized the celebration of May 1 and advised her followers not to participate in the march organized by the Government, unless they were "to demand respect, better salaries, economic freedom, free unions, decent pensions, in short, a better life for everyone in Cuba".