Yoani Sánchez Released After Being Detained and Charged in Havana
Journalist Yoani Sánchez, director of 14ymedio, was released on Thursday after spending several hours detained in Havana, where authorities charged her with an alleged crime against the constitutional order. The following day she reported that she was still under surveillance outside her building.
Key points
- Yoani Sánchez was detained on Thursday, November 5, as she left her home in Nuevo Vedado, Havana.
- She was released after spending between nine hours and almost nine hours in a holding cell, according to the sources.
- Authorities charged her with an alleged crime related to her journalistic work.
- The following day, the journalist reported a police operation outside her building to prevent her from leaving.
- Sánchez also denounced the forced deportations of Cubans living in Havana without authorization.
What happened
Cuban journalist Yoani Sánchez, founder and director of the independent outlet 14ymedio, was detained on Thursday morning in Havana as she left her home in Nuevo Vedado. Her colleagues in the newsroom said she had gone out “to shop at the neighborhood market.” Minutes later she sent a message saying that police had kidnapped her.
Three plainclothes State Security agents approached her by force, without identifying themselves, put her in a police vehicle and took her to the Fourth Police Station in the Cerro municipality. She was held in a cell there and released about nine hours later.
Authorities charged her with an alleged crime. The formal charge is “attack on the constitutional order”, although some reports describe it as “propaganda against the constitutional order.” The charge is linked to her journalistic work: the podcast Cafecito Informativo, her writing for the newsroom, and her street video segments under the pseudonym “Andarina Sánchez.”
On Friday, Sánchez wrote on X that a political police operation was underway at the base of her building to keep her from leaving home. In a video posted on Facebook she said: “They want me to be quiet, they want me to leave, they want me to be silenced, they want me to turn off the microphones. But I'm not going to turn them off.”
Context
Sánchez said in her video that, while she was detained, she saw that most of the people held at that station were there for not having legal residence in Havana. She described how police stop people on the street, check their identity cards and, if they have no address in the capital, arrest them and forcibly deport them to their province. She said the two words she heard most were “illegal” and “deportation.”
This practice has legal backing in Decree-Law 217, approved in 1997, which requires prior administrative authorization to establish residence in the capital. Human Rights Watch has documented some 20,000 forced expulsions under this rule. On November 2, a Ministry of Interior (MININT) operation in San Miguel del Padrón resulted in 71 detentions, some of which authorities described as “undocumented and illegal” in the capital.
Sánchez also criticized the subordination of the National Revolutionary Police to State Security. She is not the only one. The same week saw other arrests: historian Alina Bárbara López was beaten and handcuffed on November 1 in Matanzas; journalist Camila Acosta was detained two days later; and CubaNet contributor Adelth Bonne Gamboa was arrested on November 2 and had his equipment confiscated. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned Sánchez's arrest.
How it affects you
If you are Cuban and live in Havana without the prior administrative authorization required by Decree-Law 217, you can be fined and deported to your province of origin. The sources describe cases of people who left their children in the care of others before being forcibly transferred.
The case also shows that, according to Sánchez, a journalist can be detained over their work and, after being released, remain under surveillance on the street. She said she could not move freely, which she described as a display of “terror” and “control.”
What's next
The sources do not report any new hearing dates or the judicial steps that will follow against Sánchez. She said in her video that she will not stop speaking out.
FAQ
Why was Yoani Sánchez detained?
Authorities charged her with an alleged crime against the constitutional order related to her journalistic work. The sources do not provide a detailed official explanation of the reasons.
What is Decree-Law 217?
It is a rule approved in 1997 that requires prior administrative authorization for a Cuban from another province to establish residence in Havana. Those who do not obtain it can be fined and deported.
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