14ymedio, Havana, July 11, 2024 — The third anniversary of the massive protests of 11 July 2021 (11J) takes place for the Police and State Security like the previous ones: with the harassment and surveillance of activists, dissidents and independent journalists. Since the day before, the editorial staff of 14ymedio has been incommunicado, as have many other Cubans who have expressed in one way or another their disagreement with the regime.
Among the cases, that of Dagoberto Valdés stands out, who was summoned on Tuesday for an interrogation this Wednesday at 9 in the morning. The director of the Center for Coexistence Studies was summoned to State Security headquarters in Pinar del Río, where he waited five hours for the officer, Major Lázaro, who gave him a warning citation.
The objective was to inform Valdés that he could be charged with six crimes defined in the Criminal Code, including “incitement to violence, association to commit crimes, destabilization of international peace and violation of constitutional precepts,” he explained on his departure. The officer indicated to him that there was “nothing to celebrate” on 11J because “the 2021 demonstrations were violent acts,” and the activist rejected both the possibility of committing any of the aforementioned crimes and any other, in addition to signing the citation.
The officer told him that there was “nothing to celebrate” on 11J because “the 2021 demonstrations were violent acts”
Then Major Ernesto, who “takes care of [the group] Coexistence,” joined the interrogation and insisted, in the same vein, about the inconvenience of Valdés attending any activity scheduled for this Thursday or Friday, recalling the anti-government protests that also continued on July 12, 2021.
Both agents told the activist that he should not be “influenced by people and associations from inside and outside Cuba that intend to involve him in the organization of events against the Government,” and they complained about his attendance at the reception on July 4 organized at the US Embassy in Havana, because, they said, “it was a me