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Activist Yoel Pérez Serrano reported detained in El Cobre, Santiago de Cuba

Opposition figure José Daniel Ferrer and independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta said that Yoel Alejandro Pérez Serrano, who ran a food distribution project in Guamuta, was detained on Saturday, November 7 in a raid on his home, according to Periódico Cubano.

Pérez Serrano was detained on the morning of Saturday, November 7 during a State Security and special forces operation at his home in Guamuta, in El Cobre, Santiago de Cuba, Ferrer said on Facebook. The officers arrived at around 6:00 a.m. carrying long guns and removed mobile phones, cooking pots, food and other household items. Independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada publicised the case and said the detainee's whereabouts and any charges against him are unknown.

The young man had become known in Guamuta for running Salvar Cuba, a project that distributes food and helps vulnerable people, and for promoting the building of a medical post and a community canteen with resources raised by neighbours and collaborators. His work earned him the nickname "the mayor of Guamuta." In July 2026 he displayed a white sheet with messages about freedoms and civil rights and, according to CubitaNOW, he demanded attention for families hit by storms during a visit by Miguel Díaz-Canel to El Cobre.

Ferrer said the authorities blocked access to the community to keep neighbours away, and journalist José Raúl Gallego said that a week earlier he had received videos from the young man organising community work and handing out food, with a request to publish them if anything happened to him. The Cuban authorities have given no public explanation of the reasons for the operation or the conditions of his detention. A day before the arrest, Periódico Cubano had documented complaints from mothers in Guamuta who said they were threatened with fines for not sending their children to school because they had no food.

Sources: Periódico Cubano

Data updated: 2026-11-07T16:15:00.000Z

Activist Yoel Pérez Serrano reported detained in El Cobre, Santiago de Cuba | Yamacoa Observatory