Yoani Sánchez freed after nine hours in detention in Havana

November 6, 2026

Cuban journalist Yoani Sánchez, founder and director of the digital newspaper 14ymedio, was freed on Thursday, November 5, 2026, after about nine hours in detention in Havana, she wrote on X, according to DW, AFP and EFE. Agents stopped her that morning near her home in Nuevo Vedado as she left to buy groceries, 14ymedio and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported.

“I just got home; thank you all for the solidarity and for spreading word of the arbitrary detention I suffered this morning. That support is what unlocked the bolts and opened the bars,” Sánchez wrote. She said she would give more details on Friday and, as a journalist, would describe “the pain and total lack of protection” faced by people without public visibility.

CPJ condemned the arrest and called for her immediate release. José Zamora, CPJ’s Americas director, linked it to other short detentions of independent journalists that same week, including Adelth Bonne Gamboa and Camila Acosta, who were also freed hours later. Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International likewise demanded guarantees for her safety.

On the same day, Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, and María Cristina Labrada were detained in Havana, Soler’s husband, Ángel Moya, told AFP. Sánchez, 51, has run 14ymedio since 2014 and has repeatedly reported harassment of her staff.