Independent lawyer threatened by the State Security

On the 10th of September 2018, the captain of the State Security, Juan Pérez, appeared at the house of the independent lawyer, José Ernesto Morales Estrada, asking him for an appointment at the Police Unit the next day at 11:00 AM. The appointment was requested verbally without any written record. Mr. Morales had to wait at the Unit for an hour because the captain was not there. When he arrived, he asked him to accompany him to an office where Lieutenant Colonel Beune, the head of State Security in the Pinar del Río municipality, was also present. Then they interrogated him strongly and recorded the interrogation. Colonel Beune and Captain Pérez threatened Mr. Morales not to approach the president of the Republic Miguel Diaz Canel for more than a block away during his visit to the province on September 12, 2018. He was notified that, in case of approaching the President, he would be accused of an assault and that it would be better not to leave his house that day at all. After two hours of interrogation, he was asked to leave the Police Unit.