A reporter for the independent news agency Agencia de Prensa Libre Oriental, Espinosa Rodríguez was tried on November 6, 2006, on the vaguely worded charge of “social dangerousness” contained in Article 72 of the penal code. After a 45-minute trial, the journalist was sentenced to two years of home confinement.
According to his cousin Diosmel Rodríguez, the reporter is permitted to leave his home only to go to work. As part of his sentence, Espinosa Rodríguez was forbidden from leaving his home province of Santiago de Cuba and from practicing journalism.
Espinosa Rodríguez was charged in connection with his coverage of a local dengue fever outbreak, which the official Cuban press ignored, according to CPJ research. Espinosa Rodríguez said the journalist would be forced to serve his term in prison if he did not comply with the terms of his sentence.