{"id":29542,"date":"2021-12-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/independent-journalist-threatened-ahead-of-international-human-rights-day-5506\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:05:25","slug":"independent-journalist-threatened-ahead-of-international-human-rights-day-5506","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/independent-journalist-threatened-ahead-of-international-human-rights-day-5506\/","title":{"rendered":"Independent journalist threatened ahead of international human rights day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cuban independent journalist Yoe Su\u00e1rez was arbitrarily summoned by police authorities to Siboney station in Havana on 9 December and warned not to involve himself in \u201csubversive activity\u201d on International Human Rights Day on 10 December.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Su\u00e1rez\u2019s summons document was originally dated 10 December; however, he received a call on the morning of 9 December stating that he must appear at Siboney station immediately. Once there, he was interrogated by a State Security agent calling himself \u2018Osvaldo,\u2019 who threatened to impose criminal charges against Mr Su\u00e1rez for his journalism for the independent news site<\/span>Diario de Cuba<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the interrogation, agent Osvaldo warned Mr Su\u00e1rez about his status as an employee of a non-state organisation, stating that he has a record with the local police and can be charged for the crime of \u2018social dangerousness,\u2019 a pre-emptive charge which applies to individuals who the government think are likely to engage in criminal or anti-social behaviour, but who are yet to commit an offence. In practice, this charge is frequently<\/span>used<\/a><\/span> against critics of the government. Agent \u2018Osvaldo\u2019 also threatened Mr Su\u00e1rez\u2019s family, urging him to think of his son because the police have the legal means to \u201ccatch him out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the 15-minute interrogation, agent Osvaldo highlighted that 10 December was International Human Rights Day and warned Mr Su\u00e1rez against involving himself in any \u201csubversive activity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the second time that Mr Su\u00e1rez has been summoned in this way in the last month. On 11 November<\/span>, he was interrogated by State Security agents ahead of the<\/span>March for Civic Change<\/a><\/span> on 15 November. He was warned that prison sentences for participating in the protests would be high and was told not to leave his home on 15 November. He was also informed that a police patrol car would be stationed outside his home from 14-16 November. Mr Su\u00e1rez has been under an arbitrary travel ban for nearly two years.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: \u201cIt is unsurprising but nevertheless appalling that the Cuban State Security department has once again employed repressive tactics to harass human rights defenders in the lead up to International Human Rights Day. Despite a sustained campaign of state-sponsored harassment against him, Mr Su\u00e1rez has remained steadfast in his commitment to reporting on the realities of human rights in Cuba, including on the severe violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief. CSW<\/i><\/b><\/span>continues to call on the Cuban authorities to cease all harassment of Mr Su\u00e1rez and his family, and to lift the unjustified travel ban against him.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note to Editors:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n
  1. Mass protests were scheduled to take place in Cuba on Monday 15 November, organized by Archipi\u00e9lago<\/i>, a group of young activists and artists, and called in response to an ongoing government crackdown that began after spontaneous protests spread across the island on 11 July. The group had requested official permission to conduct \u201ca civic march for change\u201d in September. Their request was rejected, and the government launched a campaign to discredit the organisers, accusing them of being backed by the United States government. The planned November mass protests did not take place following harsh government repression.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n<\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Cuban independent journalist Yoe Suarez was arbitrarily summoned by police authorities to Siboney station in Havana on 9 December<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43679,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[140,137],"class_list":["post-29542","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-cuba","regions-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40126,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29542\/revisions\/40126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29542"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}