Cuban independent journalist Yoani Sánchez was detained in Havana on Thursday, according to a statement released by her digital newspaper 14ymedio. The statement, posted on the outlet’s website, says that Sánchez was intercepted by agents of the Cuban political police while leaving her residence in the Nuevo Vedado neighborhood to make a short trip to a nearby market. Sánchez had informed her colleagues that she would be away briefly and would return soon. About ten minutes after leaving her home, she sent a four‑word message to her coworkers warning of her situation. After that, she stopped communicating with them, and her colleagues report that they do not know her current location or the circumstances of her detention. 14ymedio, which Sánchez founded in 2014, has described the arrest as an action by the political police but has not provided details on the reasons for the intervention. No information has yet been released about her release or the place to which she may have been taken. Sánchez is a Cuban journalist and blogger who has gained international recognition for her reporting on Cuba’s political, economic, and social conditions. She established 14ymedio as an independent digital newspaper to cover national events from a perspective separate from the Cuban government. The report of her detention has raised concern among her colleagues and the broader independent media community.
Article source: De Ultimo Minuto | Image credit: De Ultimo Minuto