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Roberto de JesÚs Quiñones Haces, Lawyer Turned journalist jailed
for reporting ​injustice

2020,  Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces, a trained lawyer, poet, and journalist with CubaNet, is currently serving a one-year sentence since September 11, 2019 on charges of “resistance” and “disobedience.” Quiñones allegedly committed these crimes during an unjustified five-day detention starting April 22, 2019. He was detained and beaten for five days after covering the prosecution of Pastors Rigal and Expósito for homeschooling their children in Guantánamo. Radio Martí has a recording of Quiñones speaking about his beating here.

In June 2019, GLA agreed to work on his behalf. Fined for his alleged crimes, Quiñones refused to pay. He was cited for failure to pay in August 2019--incidentally, just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed his concern for the journalist in a phone interview. Quiñones appealed his initial sentence, but his appeal was rejected and he was imprisoned on September 11. On April 1, 2020, One Free Press and the Committee to Protect Journalists featured Quiñones as one of 10 journalists worldwide suffering from persecution of the press.

On April 27, 2020, Quiñones's son issued video statements in Spanish and in English calling for his father's release; and on April 29, GLA applied for precautionary measures with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an organ of the Organization of American States. Throughout the summer of 2020, GLA, the U.S. government, and international human rights organizations called for Quiñones's release. He was finally released on completion of his sentence, on September 4, 2020. After several updates from GLA, the IACHR granted Quiñones precautionary measures on March 9, 2021.

News and Media
  • CubaNet, Mar. 10, 2021: "CIDH emite medida cautelar en favor de Roberto Quiñones, periodista de CubaNet."
  • CubaNet, Sept. 4, 2020: "¡Liberado Roberto Quiñones!"
  • U.S. Embassy in Cuba, Jun. 12, 2020: "Carta de la Encargada de Negocios Mara Tekach a José Daniel Ferrer."
  • América Televisión News spot, Apr. 29, 2020: video.
  • Fortune, Apr. 1, 2020: "These 10 Journalists Have Been Wrongly Punished for Coronavirus Crisis and Other Important Topics."
  • ADN Cuba, Nov. 28, 2019: "Periodista Roberto Quiñones solicita revisión de sentencia al Tribunal Supremo."
  • Reuters, Sept. 13, 2019: "Rights groups denounce Cuba's arrest of independent journalist, activists denounce harassment."
  • U.S. State Department statement, Aug. 21, 2019: "On the Persecution of Cuban Journalist Roberto Quinones."​
  • Radio Televisión Martí, Apr. 22, 2019: "Golpean y arrestan a periodista por cubrir juicio de pastores en Guantánamo."​
GLA Advocacy
  • Precautionary Measures, granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Mar. 9, 2021.
  • ​Supplementary Letter to Precautionary Measures application, filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, May 5, 2020.
  • Request for Precautionary Measures, filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Apr. 29, 2020.​
  • GLA YouTube video, posted Apr. 27, 2020: "Statement by Roberto Quiñones, son of Cuban Dissident Journalist, Roberto Quiñones Haces."​

A Poem by Roberto Quiñones

“La prisión” (2001)
“Prison” (2001)
La prisión es el viejo Enrique
gastando el tiempo
tras colillas de cigarros.
Es Pompi el haitiano
invocando a sus ancestros
mientras sus ojos parcelados por barrotes
se estiran hasta el cielo.
La prisión es el odio en la mirada
el rancho podrido que te sirven
la añoranza por los hijos
la cábala nocturna cercenada con golpes
en las rejas
y reflectores que tajan la noche
y las desesperanzas.
A nadie importan los ojos extraviados
de los presos
sus manos huérfanos de abrazos
sus sueños o sus lágrimas
mientras una esquirla de sal
les viene a horadar el alba.
Ellos solo tienen una vida gris
como la humanidad de sus jueces.
Si amanecen muertos serán
un velorio desconocido
como nuestro sufrimiento.
Prison is old Enrique
wasting time
after butts of his cigars.
It’s Pompi, the Haitian, 
calling on his ancestors
while his eyes, broken up by bars,
stretch to the sky.
Prison is the hatred in a look
the old slop that they serve you
missing your children
the night Kabbalahs pierced by blows
on the bars
floodlights that slice through the night
and despairs.
No one cares about the wayward eyes
of prisoners
their hands orphaned from human touch
their dreams or tears
while a grain of salt
drills through the dawn.
They only have a gray life, 
like the humanity of their judges.
If they’re dead in the morning, they’ll be
an unknown wake
like our suffering.
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Global Rule of Law & Liberty Legal Defense Fund (d/b/a The Global Liberty Alliance)
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  • About Us
    • Mission
    • GLA Team >
      • Staff And Advisors >
        • Jason I. Poblete
        • Mauricio J. Tamargo
        • Arthur Freyre
        • Cara Di Silvio
        • Fr. Fernando Hería
        • Abbe Jolles
        • Dr. Tomaž Slivnik
        • Dr. Jane F. Adolphe
      • Board >
        • Terry T. Campo
        • Frank M. Mendez
        • Jason I. Poblete
        • Mauricio J. Tamargo
        • Dr. Stephen M. Thompson
    • Policies >
      • Anti-Slavery & Anti-Human Trafficking
      • Business Conduct & Ethics
  • Working Groups
    • Brazil >
      • Brazil Cuban Medical Mission Files
    • Guatemala >
      • Guatemala Cuban Medical Mission Files
    • Honduras >
      • Honduras Cuban Medical Mission Files
    • Nicaragua
    • Uruguay >
      • Uruguay Cuban Medical Mission Files
    • Western Sahara
  • Featured Case Work
    • The Cadet Newspaper at VMI
    • Free Yorubas of Cuba, Regularly Attacked for Faith
    • Alina Lopez-Miyares, US Citizen Tried by Cuban Tribunal
    • Jamshid Sharmahd, ​Businessman and Broadcaster Kidnapped into Iran
    • Roberto Quiñones, Jailed for Journalism
    • José Daniel Ferrer and UNPACU Activists
    • Rigal-Expósito Family, Torn Apart for Homeschooling
    • Tejeda-Lescaille Family, Persecuted for Jewish Faith
    • The Whittaker Chambers Farm
    • Past Cases >
      • Apostolic Movement Of Cuba
      • Roberto Bendaña McEwan – INTERPOL Abuse by Nicaragua
      • Nizar Zakka – U.S. Legal Permanent Resident, Hostage in Iran
  • News & Media
    • Global Voices for Liberty
    • GLA News
    • Media
  • Invest
  • Tips