They record almost two daily violations to press and expression freedoms in Cuba

Miguel Díaz-Canel’s regime perpetrated more than fifty violations of fundamental rights in Cuba, in January, against activists, political prisoners and citizens without affiliation to opposition groups, denounced the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press (ICLEP).

“The 2025 began as the 2024 ended: with much fear of the Cuban dictatorship to the truth. We saw that fear reflected in the 58 violations of freedom of expression and press that he committed, unpunished, during January, ”Normando Hernández, executive director of the organization told Martí.

The entity, based in Miami, detailed in its monthly report that 47 of the transgressions committed by repressive forces are related to freedom of expression and 11 with freedom of the press.

He also documented the most frequently used repressive methods such as threats and aggressions, both physical and psychological, arbitrary arrests and seclusion, restrictions in digital space and the abuses of state power.

Among the victims, 27 are men and 10 women. The provinces with the highest incidence of these facts were Havana, Villa Clara, Guantanamo, Mayabeque and Las Tunas, the ICLEP points out.

The organization, with six branches in Cuba, emphasizes that journalists are one of the main victims of state security harassment and underlines the accusation of «usurpation of legal capacity» to the Guantanamero reporter NiOber García Fournierwho has in force a prohibition of departure from the country since 2015.

It also highlights two cases of abuse of power that acquired relevance in January, those of the homeless Wilber García Mora and the Bicitaxi driver Edgardo Raúl Manso, who were fined as retaliation for collaborating with the independent press.

«But the hardest thing were the convictions to the young Felix Daniel Pérez Ruiz and Cristhian de Jesús Peña Aguilera, 5 and 4 years in prison, respectively, for their publications in social networks, that the Cuban regime, of course, described how ‘ Propaganda against the constitutional order, ‘said the director of the NGO.

Regarding the release of political prisoners in January, ICLEP states that they became a new control and repression mechanism.

The report recalls that repression of freedom of expression and press in Cuba is systematic and structural and ensures that “the most violated related rights during January were the right to freedom, integrity and personal security, the protection of journalists and defenders of human rights, and the right to effective reparation ”.