Cuban Man in Cienfuegos Arrested for "Disrespecting High Officials" in Family Group

The Prosecutor's Office of Cienfuegos has requested a sentence of two years and six months in prison for José Manuel Barreiro Rouco, accused of "disrespecting the dignity of high officials" after sharing images with degrading epithets towards Miguel Díaz-Canel, Raúl Castro, and Fidel Castro in a private WhatsApp group called "Family."

According to the text of the sentence, shared on Facebook by his nephew Jam Pérez Aguiar, Barreiro was also charged with contempt and currency trafficking, allegations he described as "fabricated" and which were challenged during his defense.

The document states that between March 1 and June 18, 2023, Barreiro accumulated numerous images on his mobile phone that promoted the idea of ending Raúl Castro's life and suggested that if the population took to the streets, the leaders of the country's armed forces would lose their lives.

The sentence also noted that the accused intended to "spread them to a larger number of individuals for them to reproduce and disseminate"; however, the prosecution admitted that these images had only been shared with "the 17 members of the group called 'Family' via Messenger."

This implausible accusation has sparked numerous reactions among his family members on social media, who question the transparency of the Cuban judicial system, accusing it of being an instrument of the regime, far from impartiality and justice.

Pérez, the accused's nephew, reported that on June 15, 2023, his uncle was detained in an operation "worthy of a high-ranking international mafia boss," which included a search.

"Initially accused of belonging to a group dedicated to subverting the constitutional order in Cuba," Pérez said, adding that after proving his uncle's innocence, "he was transferred to Ariza prison until December 30, when his measure was changed to house arrest."

At home, Barreiro was notified that he was charged with contempt and currency trafficking, a request he considered "full of lies, manipulations, and omissions."

Abraham Jesús, another nephew of the accused, refuted several points of the prosecution's accusation in a Facebook post. He first clarified that the private group, which also included some close friends, was not on Messenger, as claimed, but on WhatsApp.

"It's true that in the 'family' group, we shared content not aligned with the system," he noted. However, he clarified that "the group, as its name suggests, is strictly 'family,' and not aimed at subversion, as the prosecution alleged."

Additionally, he pointed out that "no one is authorized to violate the privacy and intimacy of a family," adding that "the intimate, private, and strictly family nature of the group" was omitted in the prosecution's document.

Finally, he questioned the regime's accusation against his uncle, asking: "Who was he inciting? His siblings? His teenage nephews? His daughter? His 70-year-old aunt? His cousin?" referring to the absurd accusation that Barreiro, through a private group, sought to incite uprisings, assassinations, and lynchings of government leaders and other officials.

Daime Ortega González, the accused's daughter, also raised her voice on social media to denounce the crimes the regime has committed against her father for "expressing his thoughts freely without disrespecting anyone and from a place of sanity and calm."

Ortega reported that last Monday, the trial against her father was "finally" held, "after 16 months of deprivation of liberty, seven in prison, and nine under house arrest."

Regarding her father and the judicial process he has been subjected to, the young woman pointed out: "He has been repressed, abused, and imprisoned without having committed any crime, nor having violated any norm contemplated in the Constitution."

She lastly denounced: "All his rights, both civil and constitutional, have been violated. He was denied all types of resources (bail, habeas corpus, judicial control) for seven months without elements to keep him in prison."

The case of Barreiro has provoked numerous reflections among Cuban activists and human rights defenders.

Journalist José Raúl Gallego described on Facebook this case as a fitting example of what a dictatorship is capable of doing.

"You don't have to go to Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, or anywhere else to exemplify what it means to live in flagrant violation of the most basic human rights," Gallego noted. "And the saddest part is that this superlative abuse is not an exception but the norm that has been applied for 65 years, with tens of thousands of prisoners, exiled, sanctioned, beaten, and intimidated for a simple comment, a joke, or for saying aloud or in a whisper what many people think," said the journalist, who feels great indignation over the abuse Barreiro has suffered.

News portals like CubaNet have also covered this case: "At about 53 years old and a barber by profession, José Manuel Barreiro Rouco is a well-known activist in Aguada de Pasajeros, Cienfuegos Province."

According to the website, Barreiro became involved with the independent organization Movimiento Ciudadano Reflexión y Conciliación, under the leadership of the opponent Juan Alberto de la Nuez Ramírez, since its founding in 2010.