Cuban authorities detained blogger and freelance photographer Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo on Saturday, Sept. 1, reported blogger Yoani Sánchez in her Twitter account. She has also denounced the arrest on the portal Háblalo Sin Miedo, which allows Cuban dissidents to call a telephone number in the United States to leave a report.
After more than nine hours of illegal detention and a demonstration outside the jail by activists, Pardo and his fiancé Silvia Corbelle were released around 11 p.m. on Saturday, acording to El Nuevo Herald.
On Sunday, opposition leader Manuel Cuesta Morúa was also released but other dissidents were still missing, reported the website Cuba Encuentro.
Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo is the editor of the independent magazine Voces. He is also the author of the blog Lunes de Post Revolución.
On Friday, Aug. 31, Pardo released a message on Google Voice to denounce that the Cuban police was surveilling his house. He also said that he was suspicious that the agents wanted to take him to prison to torture him or to end his life in a mysterious way.
With his arrest, the Cuban authorities avoided Pardo's participation in a panel discussion scheduled for Saturday, reported Argentine journalist and freedom of expression defender Ricardo Trotti.
At the end of June, the increasing number of arrests and threats against Cuban journalists, as well as more retaliation against members of the opposition.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
