Press Advisory

ARRESTED IN HAVANA: ROLANDO RODRÍGUEZ LOBAINA AND ISAEL POVEDA SILVA OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDIOVISUAL PROJECT “PALENQUE VISION”

Crackdown unleashed against dissidents and independent journalists who were planning to attend a commemorative event at the U.S. Embassy

Contacts: John Suarez (612) 367-6845 / Janisset Rivero (786) 208-6056

Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, together with Isael Poveda Silva, cuando on their way to event in Havana, prior to their arrest.

Center for a Free Cuba, July 2, 2025, Washington, DC — An urgent communication from the island reported the moment of the arrest of dissident and independent journalist Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, who, along with fellow dissident and journalist Isael Poveda Silva, was on his way to a U.S. Independence Day commemorative event at the embassy in Havana.

“They’re arresting us,” said Rodríguez Lobaina, while a voice could be heard telling him he was not allowed to speak to anyone. “I’m informing my family,” he added, before the call was cut off, in a recording sent to the Center for a Free Cuba today at 6:15 p.m.

Surveillance, arrests, and repression against activists and independent journalists began over the past weekend, when journalist Henry Constantin was detained in the city of Camagüey. Other dissidents from the provinces, such as Librado Linares in Villa Clara, and Eduardo Díaz Fleitas and his mother in Pinar del Río, were subjected to police operations to prevent them from traveling to the capital. The same occurred in Cienfuegos with dissidents Bárbaro and Juan Alberto de la Nuez.

Dagoberto Valdés, director of the think tank Convivencia, reported that on June 30, Major Manuel and another military officer came to his home to warn him that he could not travel to Havana or attend the reception at the American Embassy.

Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, was arrested in Lawton as she left her house. Other dissidents, such as Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet, were also prevented from leaving their homes.

“The arrest of Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, Isael Poveda Silva, Berta Soler, Henry Constantin, and others demonstrates the fear of the Cuban dictatorship’s repressive forces toward communication between the Cuban opposition and representatives of the U.S. government on the island—especially following the initiative by the U.S. Embassy’s chargé d’affaires in Havana, Mike Hammer, to visit Cubans on the island and engage in conversations about the reality they face in the country,” said Janisset Rivero, program advisor for the Center for a Free Cuba.

At the time of this report, it was confirmed that Rodríguez Lobaina was taken to the National Revolutionary Police station in La Lisa and released around 10:00 p.m., while the whereabouts of Isael Poveda Silva remain unknown.

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