Key facts
- Cuban state security agents detained Yoani Sanchez, founder and director of 14ymedio, in Havana, her husband Reinaldo Escobar said.
- It was the third detention of an independent journalist in the Cuban capital that week, according to the primary report.
- CiberCuba reported Sanchez was detained around 9:30 a.m. as she left her home in Nuevo Vedado.
- 14ymedio said it had not reestablished contact with Sanchez and did not know her whereabouts.
Cuban state security agents detained Yoani Sanchez, founder and director of the independent news outlet 14ymedio, in Havana on Thursday, November 5, according to her husband, journalist Reinaldo Escobar. Escobar, who said he was in Madrid at the time, announced the detention on social media, saying: "Yoani Sanchez has been detained by State Security today in Havana." It was the third detention of an independent journalist in the Cuban capital that week. A separate report by CiberCuba, dated November 5, said Sanchez was detained around 9:30 a.m. as she left her home in the Nuevo Vedado neighborhood. The outlet reported that she told colleagues she would return shortly, then sent a message alerting them of her detention about ten minutes later. 14ymedio said it had not reestablished contact with her and did not know her whereabouts. CiberCuba also reported that Sanchez was detained earlier in 2026: in January, agents intercepted her on her way to a diplomatic reception and escorted her home; in March, a plainclothes agent prevented her from leaving her building; and the Cuban Human Rights Observatory reported she was detained in September along with Escobar and other activists. The detention came after other arrests of independent journalists in Cuba in early November, CiberCuba reported. Adelth Bonne Gamboa was arrested on November 2 and fined 3,000 Cuban pesos, and Camila Acosta was arrested on November 3 and later released. On November 4, Freedom House condemned those arrests as part of a campaign to silence independent journalism in Cuba, according to CiberCuba. The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights reported more than 3,000 repressive actions in Cuba during 2026, CiberCuba said.