News · Rights
IAPA reports a rise in arrests and prosecutions against Cuba's independent press
The report approved at the 82 General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association, held in Bogotá, points to “persistent patterns and new forms” of restriction in Cuba and calls the imprisonment of journalist Henry Constantín the gravest case.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA, known in Spanish as SIP) said on Sunday that Cuba still shows “persistent patterns and new forms of restriction on freedom of expression and on the practice of journalism,” according to the report approved at its 82 General Assembly, held in Bogotá. The document, distributed by the EFE news agency, describes “an increase in arrests, summonses, interrogations and prosecutions.”
The report calls the “gravest” case that of journalist Henry Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba and the IAPA's regional vice president for Cuba on its Press Freedom and Information Committee, held in pretrial detention since September 16 at the maximum-security Kilo 7 prison in Camagüey on a charge of contempt. According to the document, the summons he is accused of ignoring was one he answered after State Security agents had already left.
The text also covers the imprisonment of Kamil Zayas and Ernesto Ricardo Medina, of the independent outlet El4tico, accused of incitement to public disorder over videos of political analysis and satire; that of journalists Jorge Bello and José Gabriel Barrenechea for taking part in protests; and the 15-year sentence imposed on Mayelín Rodríguez Prado, who is not a journalist, for interviewing minors during a demonstration.
Among the cases cited is that of content creator Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente, known as Anna Bensi, and her mother, Caridad Silvente, sentenced on October 1 to two years of limited freedom for “acts against personal and family privacy” after filming and posting video of an officer who delivered a summons to their home.
The IAPA says verbal summonses often precede arrests and criminal cases, and adds that the authorities delay habeas corpus petitions, change precautionary measures and restrict access to case files. The report also includes the “regulado” status that bars journalists from leaving the island, internet cuts and difficulties obtaining paper.
The organization questions Decree 160, which, according to the report, prevents independent outlets from registering as private economic activity and keeps journalism, media publishing, news agencies and broadcasting under state control, while the state retains a telecommunications monopoly. The IAPA, based in Miami and founded in 1943, brings together more than 1,300 publications across the hemisphere.
Sources: Martí Noticias · Infobae
Data updated: 2026-10-25T20:00:00.000Z