They gave him a warning for being “prone” to committing crimes of “propaganda”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2024 — Samuel Pupo Martínez – who was imprisoned for two years, eight months and 21 days following the demonstrations of 11 July 2021 (11J) – was threatened again by State Security agents with being returned to prison, this time for his posts on social networks, which criticized the regime. This Tuesday they forced him to sign a warning. In the document they indicate that he is “prone to committing a crime of propaganda against the constitutional order,” he told 14ymedio.
“They told me to put social networks aside and not post anything more against the Government and the system,” he explained to this newspaper, alluding to his encounter with two agents who identify themselves as “Darío” and “Omar.” The duo has continuously harassed him since his release from the Agüica maximum security prison on April 1, when he received a reduction of his seven-year sentence for the crimes of public disorder and contempt.
According to Cuban law, the crime of propaganda against the constitutional order can lead to sentences of between four and 10 years in prison. On the warning, Pupo wrote that he did not agree with the accusation.
His posts on social networks criticized the regime
The agents were insistent, and they not only spent part of the interrogation intimidating him in a subtle way, but they also tried to find out what he’s been doing since his release from prison. “They asked about my employment, and I replied that I am not yet working in a permanent job because my computer is broken. I have not been able to repair it, and I need it to be self-employed,” he said.
Pupo has always been an enterprising man and has a good command of English. Before ending up in prison, he taught that language to a group of students. But now, with his computer broken and his health diminished, he does “the odd job, anything else that appears.”
The time he spent locked up in Agüica wreaked havoc on his body. During that period, in addition to enduring the hostile environment, he also had to deal with scleroderma, diabetes and glaucoma, which have afflicted him for years without his receiving proper