Written by Staff Writer, CNN Havana, Cuba
Journalist and dissident Esteban Morales Diaz is no fan of the Cuban regime.
He is regularly rounded up by police and has received several solitary confinement sentences. These days, he says he is in the process of going into hiding. But Diaz remains defiant.
If he is targeted by the Cuban police, he plans to go to his old job as a cameraman. “They will have to shoot from a distance to hide myself, even if they use a sniper. They will have to choose a different camera or they will have to shoot with laser with my face on it.”
As is traditional in the east Caribbean country, the police have targeted Diaz, who works for an opposition radio network, Radio Globo.
After coming to the country as a child with his mother, Diaz returned to join the street protests during the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution earlier this year.
His speech went viral, spreading across social media, attracting sympathizers, and eventually he was arrested. His lawyers say the sentences he received to spend six years in prison were commuted.
Asked what his message to Cuban President Raul Castro would be, Diaz said: “I would tell him he is playing with fire.”