Agents from the Cuban communist regime’s State Security detained dissident journalist Yoani Sánchez on Thursday, charging her with dubious “propaganda against the constitutional order” charges before releasing her hours later.
Sánchez is the director of the independent Cuban outlet 14 y Medio and a longtime dissident who, for years, has suffered repeated acts of repression and intimidation by the nation’s communist authorities.
14 y Medio reported that Sánchez was once again detained by Cuban state security officials in the morning hours of Thursday as she left her home in Havana’s Nuevo Vedado neighborhood to purchase groceries at a nearby market. Minutes after she left, the outlet detailed, Sánchez was able to send a four-word message in Spanish that translates to “The Police kidnapped me.”
Sánchez’s husband, Reinaldo Escobar Casas, confirmed in a brief Facebook post that his wife had been detained by Cuban State Security agents. Testimonies from neighbors of the dissident affirmed to the outlet that a Cuban State Security agent that goes by the name of “Bruno” was seen in the apartment building’s lower floors at the time of her detention.
The outlet detailed that Sánchez was released nine hours later on Thursday evening. The journalist told her outlet that she has now been charged with highly questionable “propaganda against the constitutional order” charges.
Sánchez’s detention is the latest in what has been described as a new streak of repressive acts against Cuban dissident journalists over the past days. On Monday, Cubanet denounced that one of its contributing journalists, Adel Bonne Gamboa, was violently detained by Cuban police officers near his residence in Havana.
The outlet detailed that regime agents forcefully shoved Bonne Gamboa into a vehicle without presenting any kind of identification. Bonne Gamboa had reportedly left his home in search of internet connectivity after having spent days without a working connection. According to testimonies obtained by Cubanet, the Cuban agents also assaulted Bonne Gamboa’s partner and attempted to snatch the phone device she used to record the incident.
At the time, the outlet deemed the irregular situation the forced disappearance of the journalist, as none of his acquaintances or relatives had any information about his whereabouts. While Bonne Gamboa was ultimately released hours later, Cuban agents seized all of his work equipment and imposed a fine on him.
Bonne Gamboa’s detention occurred weeks after he had been subjected to an interrogation at a Havana police station in late October. According to Cubanet, Cuban regime officials demanded that Bonne Gamboa stop collaborating with the outlet, accusing him of being a “mercenary” and threatening to charge him with “propaganda against the constitutional order” as they did Yoani Sánchez on Thursday. The Cuban regime had ordered Bonne Gamboa to stop collaborating with Cubanet in December 2025 after repeated threats against him and his family. The journalist, however, continued to work with the outlet in the following months despite suffering other instances of intimidation at the hands of the communist regime throughout 2026.
Similarly, Cuban independent journalist Camila Acosta was detained and later released on Tuesday, just hours after the violent arrest of Bonne Gamboa. Acosta, who also contributes to Cubanet, was reportedly detained as she and her pet were heading to a veterinary consultation. Acosta’s husband, Ángel Santiesteban, said that Cuban agents handcuffed Acosta and forcefully shoved her into a police vehicle.
Martí Noticias explained this week that hours after her release, Acosta explained that she was detained by the communist agents after she denounced that a State Security agent dressed in civilian clothing prevented her from leaving her residence on October 28. The regime officials threatened Acosta with criminal charges for “acts against personal and familiar intimacy” for recording the agent. The journalist also denounced that her personal phone device was returned in a non-functional damaged state, presumably after a liquid substance was poured onto it.
The U.S. State Department’s Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Juan Pablo Segura condemned the arrests of the Sánchez and the other Cuban dissident journalists, stressing, “the Cuban regime shows its cowardice as it relies on arbitrary arrests because it fears the truth.”
Segura also condemned the case of Henry Constantín, a Cuban journalist and the director of the independent outlet La Hora de Cuba. Constantín was arrested in mid-September and accused of “disobedience.” A month later, in October, he was sent to a punishment cell for allegedly being in possession of a knife in his prison cell. Constantín has alleged that the object may have been planted to further incriminate him. The journalist was transferred out of the punishment cell earlier this week, but remains imprisoned at press time.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
