News · Rights
Historian Alina Bárbara López says police beat her and dragged her along the ground during a detention
López Hernández wrote on Facebook that officers beat her, dragged her along the ground and handcuffed her, and said prosecutors are seeking 4 years in prison for her on charges of assault, contempt and disobedience, as reported by Infobae.
Cuban historian and activist Alina Bárbara López Hernández published an account on Facebook on Friday saying that police officers beat her, dragged her along the ground by her feet and handcuffed her while twisting her hands during a detention, as reported by Infobae. In her post she identifies officer María Juantorena as one of the agents who took part in the operation.
"One of the questions I asked police officer María Juantorena, after she brutally beat me, dragged me along the ground pulling me by the feet with the help of several male police officers, and then handcuffed me and twisted my hands so that I would feel more pain, was: what difference is there between what you do and what Batista's hired killers did during that dictatorship?" she wrote, in remarks translated by Yamacoa.
López said prosecutors consider the word "hired killers" offensive in the closing arguments presented to the Municipal Court of Matanzas. The prosecution is seeking 4 years in prison for her and 3 for sociologist Jenny Pantoja Torres, both charged with assault, contempt and disobedience.
The case stems from the detention of the two women on June 18, 2024, as they were travelling to Havana to take part in a peaceful protest. The activist questioned why the criminal case focuses on her words and on the conduct attributed to the protesters, without any investigation of the officers she accuses.
According to PEN International, López has faced judicial harassment ever since that arrest: the file was sent to trial in May 2025 and the academic has remained under movement restrictions, surveillance and threats of further detentions. The trial was scheduled for January 30, 2026, was suspended with no new date and the case remains open.
A doctor in philosophical sciences and a researcher at Ediciones Matanzas, López has organised a monthly protest since March 2023 in the Parque de la Libertad in Matanzas, demanding the release of political prisoners, an amnesty and guarantees for the exercise of civil rights. During 2026 she was detained on several occasions when she tried to hold it.
Sources: Infobae · Serie Yamacoa: Presos políticos en Cuba (Prisoners Defenders)
Data updated: 2026-11-01T04:15:00.000Z