Miami (February 9, 2026) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) expresses alarm over the detention in Cuba of Ernesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas Pérez, two citizens who created an independent space for expression, analysis, and opinion on the main issues affecting the population, both members of the independent audiovisual project El4tico (El Cuartico), which constitutes yet another violation of the fundamental human right to freedom of expression. The hemispheric organization calls for their immediate release and for an end to the persecution of those who peacefully exercise their right to inform, express opinions, and promote critical thinking on the island.
Medina and Zayas were arrested on February 6 in the city of Holguín during a police operation, according to the independent outlet 14ymedio. According to various reports, security forces searched their homes, confiscated electronic equipment, and transferred them to the Holguín Criminal Investigation Unit, known locally as “Todo el mundo canta” (“Everybody Sings”), where activists report the use of coercive interrogation practices.
Anticipating the possibility of his arrest, Zayas left a message that was shared on social media one day after his detention: “If you are seeing or reading this, it is because you finally found a way to lock me up, to attempt to silence me temporarily… I have always spoken without hatred, without polarization, because the central idea has been to foster critical thinking… I declare this detention arbitrary, cowardly, and predictable. I demand respect for due process, immediate information about where I am and how I am, and my unconditional release, because I have committed no crime other than thinking for myself.”
IAPA President Pierre Manigault stated that “the persecution of individuals who create spaces for debate and public questioning reflects the Cuban regime’s intolerance toward any expression of independent thought.” Manigault, president of Evening Post Publishing Inc., based in Charleston, South Carolina, added that “freedom of expression cannot be treated as a crime. We demand due process guarantees, immediate information about their situation, and their unconditional release.”
For her part, IAPA Press Freedom and Information Committee Chair Martha Ramos said that “there can be no freedom of the press or expression in a country where arrests, confiscations, and harassment are used against those who exercise their right to express opinions and question those in power.” Ramos, editorial director of Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), added that “in the current context of economic and social crisis, compounded by severe energy problems that cause blackouts lasting more than 20 hours a day in large parts of the country, these independent spaces serve an essential function for citizens.”
The independent audiovisual project El4tico, launched in 2022, has become a platform for analysis and public conversation about Cuban reality, with special attention to social, economic, and political issues affecting the eastern region of the island.
In late January, the IAPA denounced an escalation of arbitrary detentions, house arrests, and police harassment against independent journalists and communicators in Cuba, framed within a restrictive legal framework that criminalizes the exercise of freedom of expression and seeks to stifle any space for information, criticism, and public deliberation.
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.
