Jorge FERNÁNDEZ ERA
In 2025, writer Jorge Fernández Era continued to be subjected to sustained harassment (see Case Lists 2023/4-2025) in connection with peaceful demonstrations held on the 18th of each month demanding political reform. On 18 April, he was detained by State Security agents while heading to Central Park for a peaceful protest and held for several hours at the Aguilera police unit before being released. On 18 June, he was again detained in similar circumstances and reportedly detained for about seven hours. On 18 July, his home was placed under police surveillance from early morning and he was later detained and taken to the Zanja police station, in Havana. There, he reported being restrained and beaten by officers and receiving threats and intimidation. After his release, he attempted to file a formal complaint supported by a medical certificate documenting his injuries, but the authorities reportedly refused to accept it.
On 18 August, Fernández Era was detained while attempting to protest and held for more than six hours; part of that time he was confined inside a sealed police vehicle under the sun, a form of torture known as ‘patrol oven’. In November, the Prosecutor’s Office suspended the criminal case opened in 2023 against him and lifted his house arrest and travel ban imposed in 2023. On 18 December, Fernández Era was detained in Matanzas together with other activists and released the following day.
Author of four books of short stories such as Cincuenta cuentos de nuestro Era (Fifty Stories of our Era) and Cada cual a lo mío. Humor en bruto para gente no tan bruta (Each to my own. Raw humour for not-so-raw people), Jorge Fernández Era, born in 1962, graduated in journalism from the University of Havana. He has worked in various Cuban cultural institutions and has won more than 20 prizes in national and international journalism and literature competitions, including First Prize in the Dinosaurio International MiniStory Competition, which he won twice, and the Aquelarre National Humorous Literature Prize, which he won for ten years.