“Journalist José Antonio López Piña was summoned for questioning and threatened with prison and exile on July 27 in retaliation for his work with independent media outlets. Authorities warned him that if he does not leave the country within two months, he will face criminal prosecution for alleged subversion and usurpation of functions, carrying a minimum sentence of nine to ten years in prison.
As an additional repressive measure, López Piña was banned from leaving his home municipality of Santiago de Cuba and was informed of an active judicial file against him, which attributes to him the authorship of numerous posts published by independent media on social networks.
According to what the victim told the OCLE, the officer described independent media outlets as ‘a means of subversion’ aimed at ‘breaking the nation's constitutional order,’ and accused him of being ‘an instrument’ of those media outlets and being ‘in the service of a foreign power,’ labeling him a ‘mercenary.’ ”
