A Cuban journalist recounts the harrowing journey of co-founding El Estornudo, an independent investigative magazine, to report on the true reality of the island. Despite initial success and the advent of public internet, the team faced escalating government repression, including website blocking, surveillance, house arrest, and the author's repeated detentions, physical humiliation, and public shaming by state security, ultimately leading to his exile.
The author details the creation of El Estornudo, an independent Cuban online magazine founded in 2016 by a group of friends disillusioned with state-controlled media. Inspired by Latin American longform journalism and fueled by the limited availability of public internet, they aimed to practice rigorous investigative reporting and storytelling, giving voice to silenced Cubans and challenging the official narrative. Initially, the magazine gained traction, even attracting international media for content republication. However, as their work agitated the government, repression intensified. The website was blocked, and journalists faced constant surveillance. The author vividly describes his first detention and interrogation in 2017 after covering Cuban baseball players deemed 'traitors.' This marked a turning point, leading to paranoia and isolation. By 2018, most founders had emigrated. The situation worsened with the internet's role in connecting activists, prompting the regime to escalate tactics. The author endured house arrest, communication blackouts, and a second, more brutal detention in 2020, where he was stripped, cavity searched, and interrogated at the notorious Villa Marista by state security, accused of being a US asset. His refusal to sign a document stopping his work for The Washington Post led to threats against his family and public broadcast of his secretly recorded interrogation on national TV, branding him a 'national enemy' and leading to his 'civic death.' Ultimately, he was forced into exile in Spain, but his account stands as a testament to the struggle for a free press in Cuba.
