Being married to a working journalist comes with its pitfalls.
Long hours away from your spouse.
The lack of large amounts of disposable income.
Watching the cable news channels at home for hours at a time.
But none of that compares to the trials of being the wife or husband of a Cuban independent journalist.
If you are an independent journalist arrested on whatever trumped-up charge the dictatorship can come with, chances are your spouse will be in trouble, too.
At least that's what happened to the spouses of journalists Odelín Alfonso and Milisa Valle Ricardo, who were arrested on Saturday in separate incidents.
Also arrested were Alfonso's wife, whose name was not available, and Valle's husband, Alexander Santos Hernández, who is a dissident in his own right.
Of the four, only Odelin Alfonso, who had been warned not to cover a Ladies in White event he had just returned home from when arrested, was still being held. But Valle and Santos were told they had received their "last" warning to stop their dissident activities.
“These arrests reveal once again an unfairness and denial of justice. No real reason exists to explain these repressive acts. It is pure and simple intimidation directed against peaceful opposition figures whose fate varies, apparently, according to the mood of their jailers,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. “We hope that Odelín Alfonso will be quickly released."
For more details about the arrests, visit Reporters Without Borders.
UPDATED, 7:50 a.m. EDT
Alfonso was released Saturday evening, after paying a fine of 30 pesos for "resistance and disrespect."
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