Cuba / Americas

  
Anna Sofía Benítez, 21, and her mother, Caridad Silvente, were sentenced to two years of “restricted freedom.” (Screenshot: TikTok)

Cuban content creator sentenced to 2 years of ‘restricted freedom’ for filming agent

Miami, October 3, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Havana court’s Thursday sentencing of influencer and content creator Anna Sofía Benítez, 21, and her mother, Caridad Silvente, to two years of “restricted freedom” after they were found guilty of supposedly violating a Ministry of the Interior (MININT) agent’s privacy. Outlets reported that the agent was upset…

Read More ›

Journalist Austin Llerandi left Cuba with his pregnant wife after Cuban State Security agents threatened him with prison time over distributing his newsletter, Amanecer Habanero. (Photo: Courtesy of Austin Llerandi)

Cuban journalist forced to flee island to Brazil following threats by state agents

Miami, October 1, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the forced exile of Cuban journalist Austin Llerandi, director of the community newsletter Amanecer Habanero, who fled the island on Tuesday and is currently in Brazil. Llerandi left the island with his pregnant wife after Cuban State Security agents threatened him with prison time if he did…

Read More ›

Henry Constantín, who is also vice president of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) for the region, remains detained at Villa María Luisa, the state security headquarters for operations and interrogations in Camagüey, Cuba. (Photo: Facebook/Henry Constantín)

Journalist Henry Constantín detained in Cuba on ‘disobedience’ charge

September 25, 2026, Miami—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Cuban government to release journalist Henry Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba. Constantín has been detained since September 16 in Camagüey under investigation for alleged “disobedience,” according to La Hora de Cuba’s website. Constantín, who is also vice president of the Inter American…

Read More ›

Austin Llerandi (Photo: Courtesy of ICLEP)

Cuban journalist given 2 months to leave country for practicing journalism

Miami, August 28, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urges the Cuban government to end its harassment of Austin Llerandi, a journalist and the director of Amanecer Habanero, a community media outlet in Havana. Llerandi, 36, has been detained numerous times in recent months for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of expression and a…

Read More ›

Cuban flags fly beside the Interests Section Office of the United States (USINT), in Havana two days after the 57th anniversary of the start of the Cuban revolution July 28, 2010. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS)

CPJ calls on Cuban government to free media from state control

Miami, Aug. 1, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disappointed that the Cuban government has not seen it fit to include independent media on its new list of professional activities freed from state control among economic reforms, according to news reports. On Wednesday, the government announced reforms allowing private enterprise in economic sectors such as transport and energy, as…

Read More ›

Austin Llerandi (Photo: Courtesy of ICLEP)

Cuban journalist threatened, interrogated by state security over newsletter

Miami, July 21—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on the Cuban government to end its harassment of journalist Austin Llerandi of Amanecer Habanero, a non-state media newsletter. Llerandi told CPJ that state security agents came looking for him at his father’s house on July 13 in Havana, demonstrating invasive knowledge of his personal life…

Read More ›

Ernesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas Pérez were detained by police in the city of Holguín on February 6. (Photo: Facebook/Observatorio de Derechos Culturales)

CPJ: Cuba’s detention of content producers stifles access to information 

Miami, February 10, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention of two content producers with El 4tico, a social media outlet in eastern Cuba, and calls on authorities to immediately release them and allow the free flow of information on the island. Ernesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas Pérez were detained by…

Read More ›

Cuban flags fly beside the Interests Section Office of the United States (USINT), in Havana two days after the 57th anniversary of the start of the Cuban revolution July 28, 2010. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS)

Cuban journalist handed 6-year prison sentence for protesting

Miami, January 27, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing of Cuban journalist José Gabriel Barrenechea to six years in prison on January 15 after he was found guilty of protesting and calls on Cuban authorities to free him, and allow the free flow of information in the country. The Provincial Court of Villa…

Read More ›

Amanecer Habanero director Yunia Figueredo was warned that a police investigation had been opened against her and husband, reporter Frank Correa.

Cuban journalist targeted with threats, intimidation after refusing police summons

Miami, June 26, 2025—Cuban authorities must end their intimidation of two community-media journalists, Amanecer Habanero director Yunia Figueredo and her husband, reporter Frank Correa, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Figueredo refused to comply with a June 23 police summons, reviewed by CPJ. On that same day she received three private number phone calls warning her that a police investigation…

Read More ›

A man smokes a cigar as he reads a local newspaper in Havana, Cuba, September 13, 2016. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

2 freelance journalists arrested amid Cuba’s ongoing repression of independent press

Miami, April 17, 2025– CPJ is alarmed by the arrest and prolonged pre-trail detention of Cuban freelance reporters Yadiel Hernández and José Gabriel Barrenechea, who both write for the online newspaper 14ymedio, and calls on Cuban authorities to release them immediately. “The Cuban government continues to engage in a campaign of harassment and intimidation against the country’s…

Read More ›