Alina Bárbara López reports being beaten during police detention

Cuban historian and activist Alina Bárbara López Hernández reported that police officers beat and dragged her during a detention. In testimony she posted on Facebook, she said officer María Juantorena physically assaulted her and that several officers dragged her across the floor by her feet. She also said she was handcuffed and that her hands were twisted. These details are part of her account of what happened.

López Hernández said she asked the officer what difference existed between the police conduct and that of Batista's ‘hitmen.’ Prosecutors in Matanzas considered the word offensive in relation to the proceedings and cited it in the case against the scholar. López Hernández questioned the use of her words in the criminal case. The expression appears in connection with the prison term being sought against her.

Matanzas prosecutors are seeking four years in prison for López Hernández on charges of assault, contempt and disobedience. This is a sentencing request, not a conviction. The scholar has also reported detentions related to her peaceful protests. Both the description of the beatings and the allegations about the detentions come from what she has publicly recounted.

The trial had been scheduled for January 30, 2026, but it was suspended and no new date had been announced. The suspension left pending the court hearing connected with the case and the prosecution's request for a four-year sentence. The date refers to the trial, not to the detention López Hernández describes in her testimony.

López Hernández has presented the episode as part of abuses she says she suffered during several detentions. Her account identifies María Juantorena as the officer who struck her and describes other officers taking part in dragging her. Prosecutors, meanwhile, maintain a prison request tied to the activist's statements and the offenses attributed to her.