A conviction without a public judgment cannot be treated as proven
Two publications reported prison terms of four and five years over the sale of satellite antennas, but the account originates with a Facebook profile and provides neither judgments nor the identity of the court.
The allegation is serious: several people reportedly received prison sentences ranging from four to five years for taking part in the importation, transportation, sale or receipt of satellite antennas in Santa Clara. Reports also mentioned the seizure of 37 devices and fines of 100,000 pesos for some buyers. But the seriousness of an accusation does not justify treating as a final judgment something that has not yet been supported by public documents.
The two reports consulted refer essentially to a post from a pro-government Facebook profile. They do not include a copy of the judgment, a case number, the date of the trial, the identity of the court or verifiable names of the people sentenced. Nor do they provide the account of the defendants or their attorneys. The proceedings may have occurred; given the evidence available, it is not responsible to state that they are fully proven facts.
Caution does not minimize the legal context. Cuba's Penal Code provides penalties for the unauthorized distribution of signals and the sale of equipment intended for those services. Authorities have also tightened restrictions on the importation of telecommunications devices. Those rules help explain why an antenna can become the subject of a criminal investigation, but they do not prove that a specific group was tried with the appropriate safeguards.
The distinction is essential. A published law makes it possible to know which conduct may be prosecuted; a judgment makes it possible to verify how that law was applied, which evidence was admitted and what defense each accused person received. When the second document is missing, the press should describe the information as an account awaiting confirmation, not as an accessible and reviewed verdict.
The case also reveals the tension surrounding internet access in Cuba. Satellite antennas circulate in an informal market fueled by the limitations of the national service, high prices and the search for connections outside infrastructure controlled by the state. That reality explains the demand, although it does not by itself resolve the legal debate over importation, the radio spectrum or commercialization.
Precisely because the issue combines technology, security, freedom of information and criminal punishment, judicial transparency is indispensable. The state should publish the rulings, identify the bodies involved and allow the defense's position to be known. The media, for their part, must distinguish between the existence of a legal framework and verification of each conviction. Repeating an account does not turn it into a document.
Until the judgments or a verifiable institutional statement appear, the correct wording is straightforward: alleged convictions were reported. That qualification protects readers, avoids turning rumors into criminal records and recalls a basic rule of journalism: when a person may lose years of freedom, evidence must carry more weight than virality.
