Activist detained and strongly threatened by state agents

On October 25, 2019, in the afternoon, Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) activist Angel Frometa Lovaina was detained by troops of the political police and officers of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), among whom were the first lieutenant Yudelquis Abad, Yondris Pelier, the sector chief Captain Matos Riveras, and the informants Estela Matos and Antonio Matos. These individuals were the ones who informed State Security Department (DSE) that the activist was pasting posters on the walls of some places in the city center, as a way of denying the regime’s campaign against the UNPACU leader. The activist was detained and taken to the DSE criminal processing unit located in the provincial capital, where he was held for 72 hours until he was released after being threatened with death by prison guard Yoendris Caraballo. This officer told him that the time was not right for the activist to play the hero because he would disappear, and that he would continue to do what was happening to those who defied the government because he had already been in prison on several occasions. The officer also threatened the activist with taking his land back if he continued to carry out counter-revolutionary activities in the streets of the municipality in which he resides. The activist was released after being officially charged with enemy propaganda and was also fined 200 pesos (6.48 euros) for putting up signs in public places without having obtained a permit in advance. The activist was released at 4 PM on October 28th. The activist was threatened so he would never denounce the threatens he had been subjected to by the officer who had been interrogating him for 72 hours.