They denounce the arrest of an independent journalist in Cuba

Cuban journalist Héctor Luis Valdéz, employed by the independent newspaper ADN, was arrested this Wednesday in Havana by state security agents, this media reported.

The ADN newspaper thus confirmed the complaint that his partner, the LGBTIQ activist and director of the Afro-Cuban Alliance Raúl Soublett, had made through social networks.

According to Soublett, Valdéz was intercepted in the capital city of San Miguel del Padrón by “Major Dominic,” the agent who had already interrogated the journalist on previous occasions.

“Dominic takes me,” says the last message that Valdéz sent to Soublett, at 08:30 local time (13:30 GMT) and that he uploaded to social networks providing a screenshot of his cell phone.

In recent weeks, several independent local journalists have denounced acts of harassment by the Cuban security forces, especially around the frustrated opposition protest of November 15.

Some were questioned, others denounced the interruption of their communications and some assured that they were prevented from leaving their homes to carry out their informative work.

Two days before November 15, the Cuban authorities withdrew the press accreditations of the six journalists and graphic artists who work for the Efe Agency delegation in Cuba, in an unjustified and unprecedented action.

Two were returned the following day and the Cuban Government promised to return two more “as of November 28”, As well as to grant the press visa for the new agency delegate in the country, requested in September.

The president of Efe, Gabriela Cañas, described these measures as “a so-called dropper relief”And demanded the recovery of all the credentials of its personnel in Havana.

The decisions of the Cuban authorities in recent months have decimated the team of the Efe delegation in Havana, where currently only two journalists can continue to carry out their work. Efe hopes to be able to recover its information capacity on the island in the coming days.