Solidarity organizations with Cuba and members of the Martí Association of Cuban Residents in Panama denounced provocative acts carried out by groups of agitators in front of the Cuban embassy in Panama City.
The rioters, gathered in Belisario Porras Park and identified as members of the front organization “Camino a la Democracia de Cuba” (Road to Democracy in Cuba), began a vigil in front of the Panamanian Foreign Ministry at the end of April to demand the release of people detained in Havana for allegedly threatening the constitutional order.
On both occasions, the participants in the demonstration ignored explanations given even by the Foreign Minister of the Republic, Javier Martínez-Acha, who visited Cuba and met with the detainees and the highest authorities of the country.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the diplomat also recently met with relatives of the seven Panamanians still under investigation to explain the Ministry’s actions, as instructed by President José Raúl Mulino.
Even so, fueled by counterrevolutionary groups that arrived in the isthmus from Miami, as has been observed, the initial complaint has been used as justification to criticize the Cuban government and its administration.
Martínez-Acha himself stated that they must respect the laws and sovereignty of Cuba and that they will continue the necessary steps to assess the situation of those still detained, amid an investigation for allegedly violating the constitutional order on February 28, when they were distributing propaganda against the Cuban state, as he explained.
On April 25, the Panamanian government confirmed the release of three Panamanian citizens among the 10 people detained in Cuba, who are being investigated for acts of violating the internal constitutional order.
The official statement highlights a positive turn in a case that had garnered diplomatic attention and a recent visit to the Caribbean nation by Martínez-Acha.
The statement frames the measure as a “gesture of humanity and friendship” on the part of Cuban authorities toward Panama, it alleges.
According to the report, the decision also takes into account the cooperation provided by the detainees during the process, under legal mechanisms such as “effective collaborator” and “opportunity criterion,” mechanisms contemplated within the island’s penal system.
That same day, the released Panamanians—Evelyn Castro, Cinthia Camarena, and Abigail Gudiño—arrived at Tocumen International Airport.
The Executive Branch then specified that it is continuing diplomatic efforts to secure the release of the seven Panamanians who remain imprisoned, it was reported.
It was also learned that Mulino again instructed the Foreign Ministry to take all necessary steps to guarantee the legal defense, diplomatic protection, and consular assistance of the detainees, with the goal of securing their prompt release.
The Panamanian government also expressed its gratitude to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, and all Cuban authorities.
According to the Bayano Digital newspaper, amid a serious threat of military invasion by Washington against the sovereign Caribbean island, protesters confronted Martínez-Acha, demanding that he call on the Havana government to immediately release seven detained Panamanians.
The absurd demand, the newspaper adds, intensified after Havana released three women from that group. This official Cuban gesture was highly praised by the Panamanian Foreign Minister, who highlighted the “great friendship” between the two countries.
Bayano Digital asserts that the protest movement has direct links to factions in Miami, Florida, that seek to create a rift in the respectful diplomatic relations between Cuba and Panama.
It further emphasizes that despite all the evidence and official explanations in the judicial sphere regarding the case being heard at the state level, the provocateurs have threatened to carry out such hostile actions in front of the diplomatic mission in Panama.
This, it adds, is a propagandistic and political act of defiance that aligns with the subversive plans devised in Washington to try to isolate the Cuban people and their Revolution and generate a dangerous scenario of intervention and confrontation in the region.
The report also notes that Cuba has reiterated its official request to Panama, through Interpol, for the extradition of Boris Betancourt, who has been serving a sentence for drug trafficking at the “La Nueva Joya” maximum-security prison in Havana since 2024.
As has been demonstrated, drug trafficker Betancourt has ties to subversive elements that threaten the security and peace of the Cuban people.
IMAGE CREDIT: Cuban Embassy in Panama City / Internet photo
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
