The professor denounces mistreatment during her unjustified detention
14ymedio, Havana, 18 April 2024 — Cuban State Security harassed professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández and Jorge Fernández Era again this Thursday. The professor was detained for several hours at the Playa police station in Matanzas, according to what she herself said shortly after returning home, in a message in which she denounced the mistreatment she suffered from the authorities.
López Hernandez was detained without explanation or any order at the Bacunayagua checkpoint, between Matanzas and Mayabeque.
Given the agents’ refusal to give a reason other than that they were following orders, the professor refused to get into the patrol car. “Then three female officers grabbed me by force to get me in. In the strong struggle I was hit in the face, head, arms, and I also defended myself emphatically. Whoever dares to restrain me by force, without a clear arrest warrant or a convincing explanation, they should know that I will always defend myself,” she stated forcefully.
López Hernández also details how they forced her into the vehicle, physically preventing her ability to move and causing damage to her right shoulder, in addition to taking her phone. “When I felt hot and short of air, I asked them to roll down the windows so I could breathe. They refused and I first started kicking the window,” she adds, specifying that this reaction is also normal if she receives that treatment.
When they arrived at the police station, she was in a room from 11 am to 5:30 pm, until a doctor attended to her at her insistence and, later, she spoke with a criminal instructor, whom she recognizes as Yordanys, who gave her a w
