UNPACU activist arrested, threatened and fined for exercising his freedom of expression

On March 31st, 2020, Ovidio Martín Castellanos, an activist of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), received a summons, from someone who said he was from the Post Office, to attend the post office in Santiago de Cuba. Upon attending the summons at about half past eleven in the morning, he was detained near the Post Office by agents of the State Security Department (DSE) and the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) and taken to Police Unit #2. In the police unit he was taken to the back and ordered to wait in a seated position, several DSE agents approached him and tried to change his ideas and peaceful actions by persuasive means some, intimidating others, and some with threats. After approximately two hours, he was taken to a small theater where he was ordered to sit in front of a bureau at the other end of which was DSE agent Alexei Atié Rodríguez, under the pseudonym Adriel, and another agent in civilian clothes, next to whom stood a man and a woman in civilian clothes who later presented themselves as inspectors. The man in civilian clothes said he was going to be fined $3000 Cuban pesos (€97) because he was an inspector of the Cuban Telecommunications Company S.A. (ETECSA). The activist asked the reasons, but the individual remained silent and the one who responded was officer Alexei Atié saying "you are going to be fined for the things you are publishing on social networks against the country's leaders and the criticism you are making regarding the measures being taken" because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Ovidio insisted that the inspector tell him the reasons, he just said "I don't know, I'm just here to give you this fine because they already investigated this" pointing to the DSE agents. Agent Alexei ordered the fine to be imposed, and the activist refused to sign the checkbook. In the end, they left the checkbook on the table and the inspectors left. At nine o'clock at night, they released him, after trying to dissuade him from leaving the country and threatening to return him to prison. Before he was released, two integral inspectors brought him in and fined him $200 Cuban pesos (€6.5) for placing stickers in public places calling for the release of the head of the National Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) who was serving his sentence.