“The independent website El Toque thrived in Cuba during the period of relative openness surrounding the 2016 visit to the island by US president Barack Obama, during which he met with Cuban leader Raúl Castro. But rising tensions with the Trump administration, the transfer of power to a new president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in 2019, the COVID pandemic, and a protest movement that brought thousands to the streets ushered in a wave of repression that forced its entire staff of twenty into exile.
Now it appears that Cuban repression has followed editor José Jasán Nieves Cárdenas to the United States. On June 21, Nieves, who lives in Miami with his family, received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number. ‘We’ve tried to reach you every which way, but you’ve rejected us,’ the message read. ‘Now we will have to come to you personally, and we know exactly where to find you.’ The message was accompanied by a photo and video showing the exterior of his home.
Nieves suspects Cuban state security, because he had previously received a slew of menacing messages on his WhatsApp from ‘Mabel’ and ‘Franco,’ which are the names used by the police officials who interrogated him on several occasions when he was still in Cuba.”
