Cuba: CFWIJ demands CubaNet journalist Camila Acosta’s release immediately

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July 12, 2021, Havana – CubaNet journalist Camila Acosta will be prosecuted for crimes against State Security, according to the screenwriter Ángel Santiesteban confirmed on July 12. The journalist remains in custody following the demonstrations she covered on July 11. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) is utterly dismayed by these crackdowns against journalists in the country. We demand Cuban authorities release Camila immediately. 

Journalist Camila Acosta will be prosecuted for crimes against state security, the screenwriter Ángel Santiesteban confirmed on July 12, according to the CubaNet. The reporter, who was arrested this Monday in Havana, is being held at the 4th Station of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), located on Avenida de Infanta, municipality of Cerro.

Camila was intercepted by agents of the political police shortly after leaving her home when she was preparing to carry out personal meetings. Hours before her arrest, Acosta was covering the protests that took place in the capital against the Miguel Díaz-Canel regime. The journalist also blocked access to the Internet and the WhatsApp messaging app on July 11. According to ABC, she did not respond to messages and calls.

"If the Cuban regime does not reconsider, or the world forces, the blood will flow, because the Cuban people have shouted out loud that they lost their fear," Camila wrote in her last message on her Twitter account. “It is time to pressure them to leave power. If we give in now, we will have many more years of dictatorship, "added the journalist.

ABC also revealed, “It is not the first time that Camila Acosta has been detained by the Cuban regime for critical information about her with the government. She has also suffered social rejection, which has forced her to change her address several times when her rental contracts were revoked by landlords, victims of pressure from the Cuban authorities, as she related to this newspaper last February.” 

In addition Camila Acosta, other CubaNet reporters have also been detained. Orelvys Cabrera was arrested on July 11 in Cárdenas while covering the protests. Also, Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina and Niober García Fournier, from the Palenque Vision news agency, were intercepted in the province of Guantánamo.

The Cuban authorities also repressed journalists who were in the scene covering the protests on July 11. Ramón Espinosa, a photographer for the AP, was physically assaulted by the regime's forces and ended up with a bloody face. 

Authorities also impeded dozens of reporters from leaving their homes, including 14yMedio reporter Luz Escobar and at least 26 ICLEP reporters based across the country, including the states of La Habana, Matanzas, Pinar del Río, Mayabeque, Sancti Spíritus, Artemisa. Luz shared on her Twitter account that the security forces were waiting at her house to block her.

This incident is not Luz’s first time. The Havana-based journalist working for independent media outlet 14yMedio experienced something that she once described as random house arrest. On December 10, which – ironically – also marked as Human Rights Day, Luz was, once again, prohibited from leaving her house. 

Although there is no exact number of detainees or of the citizens who are unaccounted for, after protests, more than 60 people were registered in that condition, some of whom remain in custody. 

Lorena Cantó, a correspondent for the EFE Agency in Havana, reported a group of people, mostly women, who appeared at the PNR Unit in Zanja, seeking information on their family members. 

"Relatives of those detained yesterday in the protests in Havana are demanding information this Monday from a police station. They are almost all women, ” Lorena took to her Twitter account. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is devastated by the vicious attacks against journalists in the country. We demand Cuban authorities release Camila and other journalists who remain in custody. Journalists must freely and safely do their job.