Human rights defender falsely accused of a threat against State Security official

On Saturday, 16 November 2019, José Ernesto Morales Estrada, an independent lawyer and a representative of the Legal Counselling and Civic Instruction, arrived at 11 am at the police station in Pinar del Río as he had been instructed. The day before, on 15 November, the patrol car no.127 stopped at his place and the policemen told him to accompany them. However, they did not have a detention order neither they knew the reason for the detention. They were just claiming they were following the chief's orders without knowing the cause. The lawyer refused to accompany them and after having made a phone call, he was told to come within 24 hours to the police station otherwise he would be prosecuted for disobedience. On the next day, Morales Estrada went to the police unit and he was informed that he had been accused of a threat. For that reason, he would have to be detained for 96 hours as requested by the superiors from the Ministry of the Interior. The complaint against Morales Estrada was submitted by the State Security official known as Captain Félix, who said that Morales Estrada had threatened him with a knife. The accusation was false and the situation served the Cuban State Security to criminalize a human rights defender. Morales Estrada was detained for 10 hours.