Apparently aware of the power of truth when spread via the written word, the Cuban secret police have made a habit of arresting, threatening and then releasing independent journalists just trying to their job.
A favorite police target are journalists who visit the U.S. Interest Section to participate in journalism classes presented via teleconference by Florida International University. Whether at the journalists' homes or on the sidewalks outside the Interest Section, the cops have gotten good at sweeping in and taking the journalists to jail for a little talking-to.
The cops warn the journalists of greater dangers - and in Cuba, those dangers, thanks to the Castro dictatorship, are many - if they continue with their "counter-revolutionary" work. Then after a few hours, they are released.
It happened May 22 to journalist Damián Sánchez Sáenz.
The cops came to his home in Havana and drove him to the local police station. They released him a few hours later, but not before warning him to quit his journalistic activities, including the FIU classes.
The report describing Sánchez's arrest, written by independent journalist Adolfo Pablo Borraza Chaple and posted at Payo Libre, did not include Sánchez's response to the threat, but I think the cops know his answer.
Payo Libre this morning also posted a report describing the recent arrests of two other journalists and classmates in the FIU workshops, Lisbán Hernández Sánchez and the aforementioned Borraza Chaple.
The author of the report?
Damián Sánchez Sáenz.
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