Cuban journalist Yeris Curbelo Aguilera was sentenced to two years in prison on September 24, 2024, and taken to jail directly after his sentencing.
Curbelo Aguilera, a 39-year-old reporter with the non-state media outlet Palenque Visión and a civil rights activist, was arrested on June 16, 2024, following a physical altercation with local youths, whom his family alleged were acting as government agents in the confrontation. He was released on bail two days later. One of the youths was also prosecuted for the incident but was acquitted at trial, Aguilera’s wife claimed.
The court convicted Curbelo Aguilera of “assault causing minor injuries” in the incident.
Curbelo Aguilera has stated that he was prosecuted in retaliation for his reporting on anti-government protests in the eastern town of Caimanera in 2023.
In the past several years Cuba’s non-state journalists have come under intense pressure from the government, which does not legally recognize the rights of news outlets outside official state media. Cuban law prohibits news outlets from receiving foreign funding and journalists who receive foreign funding can be accused of an act of “subversion.”
A Cuban government representative did not respond to a request for comment about Curbelo Aguilera’s case in late 2024.