World
Cuban police violently arrest Blade media partner’s editor
Maykel González Vivero taken into custody during Havana protests
Cuban police on Sunday violently arrested the editor of the Washington Blade’s media partner on the island.
Tremenda Nota Director Maykel González Vivero’s arrest in Havana coincided with protests against mounting food shortages, the government’s response to the pandemic and a worsening economic crisis that were taking place across the country. Media reports indicate police targeted other journalists who were covering the protests.
“It was violent, everything was over,” said González in a text message he was able to secretly send to a colleague from the police station where he was being held. “I was not resisting when they took me down and they consciously threw my glasses to fuck with me.”
A tweet that appeared on González’s Twitter page shortly after midnight on Monday confirmed he had been arrested.
“I was detained at the violent end of today’s protest in Havana,” reads the tweet.
Fui detenido tras el final violento de la manifestación de hoy en La Habana. Estoy en la unidad de policía de Zapata y C #Cuba #Protestas
— Maykel González Vivero 🎯 (@MGVivero) July 12, 2021
A thread that appeared on González’s Twitter account provided additional details of his arrest.
“I had already left the ‘battlefield’ when a police officer wearing civilian clothes shouted to me that I had been throwing rocks,” reads the thread. “I had never thrown a rock.”
“Uniformed officials handcuffed me,” it says. “They turned me over to some riot police after awhile.”
González said the riot police “bent him over and grabbed him hard by his hair.”
“They did it to punish me. There was no other reason. I never resisted,” he said in the thread.
“My glasses fell off and they constantly kicked them,” added González. “I am now writing by sticking close to the screen.”
Así me detuvieron:
Ya salía del “campo de batalla” cuando un policía de civil me acusó a gritos de haber tirado piedras.
Yo jamás he tirado una piedra.
Me esposaron unos oficiales de uniforme común. Al rato me pusieron en manos de unos antimotines.
Sigue 👇🏻
— Maykel González Vivero 🎯 (@MGVivero) July 12, 2021
A source in Cuba told the Blade on Monday that González remains in police custody.
Cuban government has previously targeted González
Tremenda Nota throughout Sunday posted videos of the protests in Havana to its social media pages, even though the government at times cut access to the internet. One video that Tremenda Nota posted to its Twitter page shows what it describes as “special troops” in Havana’s 10 de Octubre neighborhood moving towards Old Havana.
Hace solo unos minutos se avistaron tropas especiales por la Calzada del 10 de Octubre en dirección a La Habana Vieja pic.twitter.com/8b4EElXOGo
— TremendaNota_Cuba (@TremendanotaC) July 12, 2021
Tremenda Nota also reported artists and intellectuals who gathered in front of the headquarters of Cuban Institute for Radio and Television, the government agency that governs state-run media, in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood “were repressed” for “demanding a space and to tell the truth about the country.”
Artistas e intelectuales fueron reprimidos frente al Instituto Cubano de Radio y Televisión para exigir un espacio y contar la verdad del país.
— TremendaNota_Cuba (@TremendanotaC) July 12, 2021
Cuban police have previously detained González, most recently in November 2020. The Interior Ministry in late 2019 banned him from leaving Cuba.
The U.S. on Sept. 18, 2019, granted asylum to Yariel Valdés González, a Blade contributor who worked for Tremenda Nota and other independent Cuban media outlets, because of the persecution he suffered in his homeland.
The Cuban government on May 8, 2019, detained this reporter for several hours at Havana’s José Martí International Airport after he tried to enter Cuba to continue his coverage of the island’s LGBTQ rights movement. The Cuban government eventually expelled him from the country and he flew back to Miami.
Hungary
Charges against Budapest mayor for organizing Pride march dropped
Country’s new government took office last month
Hungarian authorities on Thursday dropped charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony over his role in organizing the city’s 2025 Pride march.
Karácsony spoke at the event, even though then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government banned it.
More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in the march that took place on June 28, 2025. The Associated Press notes the Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office in January charged Karácsony with “organizing the unlawful assembly despite a prohibition order.”
Karácsony, who has been Budapest’s mayor since 2019, described himself as a “proud defendant” after his indictment.
“It seems that in this country, this is the price you pay if you stand up for your own freedom and the freedom of others,” he said in a statement, according to the AP. “If anyone thinks they can ban me, deter me, or prevent me and my city from doing so, they are gravely mistaken.”
Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12.
Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the Budapest Pride march to take place this year.
The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021. The BBC notes Hungarian authorities cited the decision in their decision to drop the charges against Karácsony.
Authorities in Pécs, a city near Hungary’s border with Croatia, have also dropped charges against Géza Buzás-Hábel, who organized a 2025 Pride event.
Hungary
Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban
Country’s new government took office last month
Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the annual Budapest Pride march to take place.
“The Budapest Metropolitan Police has approved the 2026 Budapest Pride Parade and also has issued restrictive orders in relation to three counter-demonstrations,” a Budapest Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Politico.
Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.
Hungarian lawmakers last year passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in last year’s Budapest Pride parade. The event became one of the largest protests against then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since he took office in 2010.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12. The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021.
The EU on May 29 announced it will release more than €16 billion ($18.59 billion) in funds to Hungary that it withheld while Orbán was in office.
The Budapest Pride march will take place on June 27.
“We will march freely in fresh air for our rights, for the democratic Hungary,” said Budapest Pride on its Facebook page.
Colombia
Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election
Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government
Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López on Sunday finished fifth in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election.
López, a centrist who ran as an independent, received 225,517 votes. This figure is .95 percent of the total votes cast.
López was the Colombian capital’s mayor from 2020-2023. She was a member of the Colombian Senate from 2014-2018. López, whose wife is outgoing Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano, would have become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she would have won the election.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored López in D.C. in 2024.
“We need to listen to each other again, we need to have a coffee with each other again, we need to touch each other’s skin,” she told the Washington Blade during an interview. She hadn’t yet declared her candidacy, and did not specifically discuss her plans to run.
Runoff to take place June 21
Abrelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has praised U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on Sunday finished first with 43.74 percent of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda, a member of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact party, came in second with 40.9 percent of the vote.
Neither men received a majority of votes. A runoff between them will take place on June 21.
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