CPJ calls on US to investigate threats against exiled Cuban journalist

Miami, July 12, 2024—Miami-based Cuban journalist José Jasán Nieves Cárdenas, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he received a threatening text message on June 21 from an unknown number with an Ecuadorian country code, which said, “we know exactly where to find you” and included a photo and video of a car driving past his house.

Nieves, editor of the independent news site El Toque, believes that the message came from agents of Cuban state security because he previously received other threatening messages from “Mabel” and “Franco,” the names used by police officers who interrogated him while he was still in Cuba, according to the Columbia Journalism Review. El Toque is a leading news website covering Cuba, and has angered authorities for its coverage of protest movements and the country’s economic struggles.

“The recent threats made against El Toque editor José Jasán Nieves Cárdenas are troubling,” said CPJ U.S., Canada, and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “It is vital that U.S. authorities ensure that Nieves can work in exile without concern for his safety and thoroughly investigate the source of the threats against him.”

Nieves told CPJ he filed a complaint with the FBI on July 2. The FBI did not immediately respond to CPJ’s email requesting comment on the complaint.  

The threat came as Cuban authorities sought to suppress reporting related to commemorative events ahead of the anniversary of the July 11, 2021 anti-government protests in Cuba.