Cuba's Interior Ministry announced on Monday that 10 citizens of Panama were arrested on Saturday after being found to have created signs that authorities described as "subversive content." In a formal statement, the ministry said the group had been sent to Cuba from Panama by undisclosed patrons who promised payment for their actions.
The ministry charged the Panamanians with "acts of propaganda against the Cuban constitutional order," invoking a Cuban statute that criminalizes "inciting against social order, international solidarity, or the socialist state." The law cited carries a penalty ranging from three to eight years in prison and forbids distributing, creating or possessing material of that nature, whether written or oral.
According to the Interior Ministry's statement, the detained individuals provided statements indicating they had been "instructed to enter Cuba to create signs with subversive content." The ministry added that, once the objective was achieved, the individuals were to leave the country and would receive a payment upon their return to Panama estimated in their initial statements to be between $1,000 and $1,500 each.
The arrests came after Havana announced a separate incident last week in which heavily armed Cuban exiles attempted to enter the country by speedboat. Cuban forces engaged the assailants at sea in a shootout that, officials said, resulted in the deaths of four attackers and left six others wounded and in Cuban custody.
Both episodes occurred against the backdrop of economic strain and an energy crisis on the island. The Interior Ministry and other official commentary linked the events to the broader situation, noting that the United States has imposed what officials described as a virtual oil blockade on Cuba. Cuban authorities say that blockade has exacerbated fuel shortages and blackouts across the country.
The Panamanian embassy in Havana did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Interior Ministry noted. The ministry's announcement reiterated the government's position on prohibitions against material it deems hostile to the constitutional order and cited the specific criminal provisions applied in this case.
Cuban exiles have long pointed to restrictions on expression as a factor in support for economic measures against the Cuban government. The Interior Ministry's account framed the arrests within that legal and political context but did not provide further public details about the identities of the detained individuals or the patrons who allegedly sent them.