The testimony of Camila Acosta, the journalist who was imprisoned in the cells of the Cuban dictatorship: “God put me there to tell what is happening”

Cuban journalist Camila Acosta, correspondent of the Spanish newspaper ABC In Havana, he was released from prison this Friday after spending four days in a cell. However, went to house arrest.

Acosta was arrested last Monday by Cuban agents as she left her home, from which work equipment, like his computer, was mistaken for alleged crimes against state security, a charge often used in Cuba against dissidents.

The communicator, unable to receive visits or make calls, shared a cell with other inmates in a space occupied by six bunk beds and a latrine. As she herself said to the newspaper where she works, the place was infested “mosquitoes and it was very hot”. He also related that nobody used masks despite the strong rebound in COVID-19 infections on the island. He also underlined: “God put me there to tell what’s going on”.

In dialogue with ABC, he said that the most terrible of those days in prison was “know the experiences of inmates. There was a mother with her two daughters, who were arrested on the day of the demonstration and who they were severely beaten. Some bruises were still visible. Among the detainees were other women who had approached the protest site out of curiosity and had been arrested, and their families did not know their whereabouts. A pregnant woman was also present, who sought medical treatment but was refused. They gave it to him when they put it in my cell, ”he commented.

When asked if the regime’s forces knew that the journalist was going to tell about what was going on in prison, Acosta replied: “I told him when they applied the house arrest sanction, with the intention that he does not speak. I told them to take me back to the cell because I was going to go back to the street, and if there was another demonstration I would report ”.

Regarding the interrogations to whom it was submitted, she said that as of Wednesday they were “about two a day, over an hour“In which they asked him about his profession, his family and the protest he attended. “I recognized that I went to record, and I did a live for CubaNet. They tried to underestimate me by saying that I was not important, that I was not a journalist, that I was practicing the profession illegally, that I had no contract with ABC Yes CubaNet, and that even these media had denied that I worked with them. What ABC he said he didn’t have a correspondent in Havana. But I knew it wasn’t true, because I’m not new to questioning.. I know I have to interpret the opposite of everything they say. They also pressured me to accept and sign by committing to pay the fine, which I did not do, and for this reason they put me under house arrest. Something I also refused to sign. The only thing I signed was the act of my release, ”he stressed.

Then he pointed out that he was not afraid but what she got agitated when new inmates were brought in because I doubted them. “I know from interviews with other people that detainees are sometimes sent to be beaten. I took great care of it“, did he declare.

Finally, she affirmed that she will continue to practice her profession and that this experience will not discourage her from moving forward. “I’m not going to stop reporting. We must continue to report as many people are still detained and their families do not know their whereabouts. I wanted to be imprisoned, because it was a unique opportunity to find out what was going on inside, all the stories. But I knew, when they tried to make a deal with me, that the pressure outside was very strong ”.

Authorities accused the journalist of “lack of respect“O”public unrest”. The newspaper ABC maintains that Camila Acosta is her correspondent in Havana, while the Cuban regime denies it, since she does not have the official accreditation of a foreign press employee.

Acosta is a well-known Cuban freelance journalist with positions critical of the Miguel Díaz-Canel regime. He also worked for the portal CubaNet, one of the main opposition media, and has been arrested on several occasions.

His arrest had a strong impact on Spain, where the Federation of Journalists’ Associations of Spain (FAPE) and the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, demanded his “immediate release”.

During Sunday’s protests, clashes erupted and hundreds of people were arrested, including activists, opponents and independent journalists, according to international organizations. Some of those arrested have been released, while others remain in police stations and prisons across the country, while the regime has not provided details of the arrests.

Cuban independent journalists denounce increased harassment by authorities in past year, from house arrest to police summons, through the confiscation of tools or Internet access restrictions.

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