A Cuban journalist and YouTube personality was detained by communist Cuban police who showed up at her home in the middle of a live broadcast on Tuesday morning.
From her home in Cuba, Dina Stars joined an interview with the Spanish news program Todo Es Mentira. During that live interview, Stars answered a knock at her door before briefly returning to the show to say she was being detained by Cuban security forces.
“Security is out there,” Stars said during the broadcast. “I have to go.”
Stars could be seen standing up from her home office and answering her door for a moment. Stars briefly returned to her home office and said, “I hold the government responsible for anything that may happen to me.”
The 25-year-old then said, “I have to go. They told me to accompany them.”
Cuban-American conservative political strategist Giancarlo Sopo tweeted additional footage of Stars’ arrest.
“#SOSCuba. Here is the moment when Cuban state security forces attested independent journalist @Dinastars_. She was detained while giving an interview live on television to a news outlet in Spain. #PatriaYVida.”
Stars could be seen being led to a police vehicle and sat in the backseat, without handcuffs.
The details and reason for Stars’ arrest were unclear. According to NPR, she was present at anti-government marches in the Cuban capital of Havana on Sunday and had uploaded videos of herself, in which she criticized government leaders.
Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) tweeted “Independent journalist @Dinastars_ was live on the air today with a tv station in Spain when Cuban regime state security entered her home & ask that she come with them. #SosCuba#PatriaYVida.”
Stars’ arrest comes amid days of demonstrations against the Cuban government. On Sunday, thousands of Cubans took to the streets and many were reported chanting “Freedom” and “Down with communism” in opposition to Cuba’s single-party state governed under the country’s ruling Communist Party.
The anti-government demonstrations in Cuba have seen Cuban citizens storm Communist Party offices and turn over police vehicles in the country.
NPR reported at least 148 Cubans have been arrested, detained or gone missing entirely since Sunday.
On Sunday night, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who also heads the Communist Party of Cuba, gave a TV address calling on “revolutionary” Cuban citizens to take to the streets and fight those demonstrating against the Cuban government.
“The order to fight has been given – into the street, revolutionaries,” Diaz-Canel said.
