“Information, independent journalism, has turned out to be a very powerful enemy of the Cuban socialist tyranny. That is why the objective of all this harassment is to break us down, to make us give up reporting from the Island and, above all, to force us into exile, it is the way they get rid of those of us who make them uncomfortable.”

There have been many occasions in which the Cuban journalist Camila Acosta has been detained on public roads for no reason, simply to leave her locked in the police car under the sun and with the windows closed on any street in Havana. This is a peculiar form of torture implemented by the political police of the Cuban regime against journalists and dissidents known as «oven patrols», within which the victims are subjected to extreme heat conditions for hours.

The persecution of Acosta began in 2019, «almost immediately after I started my work as an independent journalist,» she said in an interview with PEN Uruguay. Currently, Acosta is a correspondent for the Spanish ABC newspaper and a journalist for the CubaNet portal, an unofficial medium. Before, she was a reporter on the Havana Channel of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television. She graduated in journalism from the University of Havana in 2016.

Despite the fact that the Political Constitution of Cuba, approved in 2019, recognizes freedom of the press in its article 55, and «freedom of conscience and expression» in its article 54, the Penal Code condemns foreign financing, which includes financing to independent journalism. A legal paradox created by the regime to appear open, but as our interviewee says, «they did this knowing that all the resources of the independent Cuban press come from abroad.»

But Acosta, in addition to having been a victim of physical torture by the «oven patrols», has also faced other methods of psychological pressure, harassment and persecution by the dictatorship during the last -almost- four years. This is how she tells us about the turn her life took:

“My life took an abysmal turn. I began to be seen as a danger, they even threatened and interrogated my parents, they slandered me in the official press, calling me a terrorist and mercenary; they began to accuse me of false crimes in order, as the political police officer clearly told me, to create a file for me as a common criminal that would end up taking me to jail: public disorder, trespassing and reception, were some of the crimes that they accused me, always without proof.”

But in addition to the intention of creating a file for her as a «common criminal» to cover up the political persecution exerted on the journalist, the regime has also tried to break her by applying other forms of pressure:

“The year 2020 – right in the middle of COVID-19 and social isolation – was very oppressive for me: due to pressure from State Security, they evicted me from at least seven rented houses, from one day to the next they left me in the street and, if it weren’t for the help of my partner and some friends, it would have been worse; they kidnapped me on public roads several times, and I say kidnapping because there was not even a court order and at the police station they did not let me notify my family, they held me for up to 10 hours, on one of those occasions they even stripped me to register. ”

However, the moment of greatest danger that Acosta faced occurred when she was detained by State Security for covering the massive protests of 9/11. On that occasion, the journalist was saved from a trial and a probable sentence of 20 to 30 years, including the death penalty for the efforts » mainly from Spain, since I am a correspondent for the newspaper ABC»:

“On July 12, 2021, they arrested me for reporting the protests of the previous day (11J)… They kept me incommunicado for four days, half of them in a state of forced disappearance because my family did not know where I was. They wanted to accuse me of ‘crimes against State Security’.”

“I was released after four days, accused of ‘public disorder’ and ‘incitement to commit a crime’. I was ten months awaiting trial, under home confinement, six of those ten months a police patrol kept me in the corner of the house […] I was facing a sentence of six months to one year of imprisonment, but the political police seeing the international repercussion of my case, preferred to impose a fine of 1,000 pesos, equivalent to approximately 10 dollars.”

The situation that independent journalists face on the island is one of permanent danger, where the power of the State punishes all those who they consider to be «contrary to the state and the constitutional order.» Acosta affirms that “the majority of independent journalists question and denounce the dictatorship, the Communist Party and the military leadership; that, in itself, is contrary to «its constitutional order» since that same Constitution establishes that the Communist Party of Cuba is «the leading and superior force of society and the State» – that is, that it is even above the Constitution – and that the socialism that it endorses «is irrevocable».

PEN Uruguay (PU): Despite this state of repression imposed by the Communist Party of Cuba and its socialist regime, how has independent journalism in Cuba managed to challenge the restrictions and persecution of the State?

Camila Acosta (CA): It has been based on resistance, prevailing over the attacks, working and denouncing hard, resorting to international organizations and governments that make visible and put pressure – even minimally – on the Cuban regime. Faced with so much defenselessness, that visibility is the only thing that supports us.

PU: There are no known reports that journalists are disappeared or murdered in Cuba. Does the regime practice some kind of “controlled tolerance” towards independent journalism in Cuba?

CA: When I have been questioned that in Cuba journalists are not murdered or disappeared as happens in other countries in the region, I answer that the Cuban context is different in that sense, because the political police have specialized in these methods of torture, the psychological. In addition to the fact that, unlike those other nations, in Cuba the persecution of the press and the opposition is a State policy and practice. So no, there is no kind of tolerance. Those of us who survive in the Island do so under the control and constant siege of the repressive apparatus.

Only in the year 2022, the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press (ICLEP) documented 508 attacks against journalists or communicators. In 2021, especially after the mass protests on July 11, there were more than 1,100 registered attacks. Regulations for leaving the country, prison, exile, fines, evictions from homes, defamation in State media, searches of our homes and confiscation of means of work, interrogations, house arrests or on public roads without a court order, threats also to family and friends, psychological torture and accusations of false crimes, are some of the repressive bosses that those of us who practice independent journalism in Cuba face.

All of this, when you apply it constantly, has a high psychological load; paranoia is a routine for us, feeling watched and persecuted all the time. It is a cluster of experiences that affect our environment, our family and friends, and our psyche. And that is precisely what the Cuban repressive organs seek: to slowly destroy us; it is more effective, leaves fewer traces and is less scandalous internationally.

PU: How do independent journalists achieve self-sustainability?

CA: Most of the independent journalists in Cuba work for press outlets based outside the country, since in Cuba it has been practically impossible to maintain newsrooms due to all the harassment by State Security. These press media are the ones that support our work; I do not ask details such as, for example, where the funds come from because asking that, being inside the Island, can create certain doubts about our reliability since those who are interested are State Security officials. However, they are public issues, most of these media have «grants» from North American institutions or receive donations. For me, the fundamental thing, and it is something that leaves me calm and without conscience, is that there is nothing illegal or shady.

PU: In what way do you manage to reach the public despite the economic deficiencies and the limitations of access to the network in Cuba?

We managed to reach the public thanks to the Internet because disseminating printed documents is punishable by law. Although the Internet connection has its limitations and there are still thousands of Cubans without even a cell phone, more and more are turning to the platforms of the different independent media for information. On several occasions, the State media even have  had to issue criteria or clarifications – most of the time manipulations – due to the news that is broadcast on the networks or in the independent press.

In less than five years the followers of CubaNet -which is the independent medium for which I work- have increased ten times, surpassing one million, a figure that increases every week.

I have several anecdotes of people who have recognized me on the street, other colleagues have told me similar situations. That shows that our work is reaching the public and, even better, they encourage and thank us.

PU: How do you assess the «health status» of independent journalism on the Island and where do you think it is headed in the immediate future?

The independent press within the Island is currently barely surviving, many have been forced into exile, the rest of us resist under constant and isolated harassment. I don’t have the exact figures, but I estimate that two years ago we were more than double the number that we are today reporting within Cuba; that gives you an idea of the intensification of repression and terror.

But I always say that this is like a relay race, some leave and others come, the important thing is that there will always be people reporting from Cuba. The Internet also makes work much easier.

Twenty years ago independent journalists reported abroad through telephone calls, their lines were cut and many times the news arrived late, the arrests or beatings to which they were subjected were known one or two weeks later. It was a much more adverse context and, even so, they resisted and continued to report. With access to the Internet, reporting has increased, as has the number of press outlets that look at and tell Cuba from a version of events that the regime manipulates and hides, more attached to journalistic objectivity.

Despite the shortcomings, we have managed to wrest the monopoly of information and, even more, the account of the facts. That was achieved with much sacrifice, hard work and responsibility. Also, with the Internet, what we call citizen journalism has arrived in Cuba, any person with a telephone becomes a reporter of that harsh reality. For example, most of the videos of the repression of July 11, 2021 were recorded and uploaded to the networks by the protesters themselves. It has been very difficult for the regime to control that, they have not succeeded and they will not succeed; they have created laws and decree laws and people continue to denounce it, it is the only mechanism they have in the face of so much defenselessness and impunity.

PU: Do you think that independent journalism in Cuba is influencing a greater democratic opening?

The state of democracy and freedom in a country is measured by the level of freedom of the press and expression that exists in that country. From what I have told you, it is evident that Cuba, although the leadership wants to simulate a certain openness, continues to be an authoritarian, closed system, a most macabre Socialist tyranny, the rest is camouflage.

The democratic opening will only be really possible when we overthrow that system, when the Castros and their entourage leave power and then we can move towards a full democracy, towards a system free of dogmas and ideologies, where censorship and the repression of dissent are not normalize, where human rights are respected and where citizens have the mechanisms and institutions to demand their rights and monitor power. In all this process, of course, the press will have a fundamental role.

But as long as the model, the Socialist system that has brought so much suffering and misery to Cuba, the Castro family and their entourage, and the Communist Party persist in all this gear, any transition will be fictitious.

Information, independent journalism, has turned out to be a very powerful enemy of the Cuban socialist tyranny. That is why the objective of all this harassment is to break us down, to make us give up reporting from the Island and, above all, to force us into exile, it is the way they get rid of those of us who make them uncomfortable.