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‘Almost taken hostage’: Nick Shirley claims he is stranded in Cuba, planning ‘escape’ route
Nick Shirley said he arrived in Cuba to document the island's “humanitarian crisis” when authorities seized his cameras and gear at the airport.
Content creator and independent journalist Nick Shirley, who made headlines last year after reportedly exposing a massive fraud involving taxpayer dollars in Minnesota's daycare system, has now alleged that he was “almost taken hostage in Cuba”. Shirley said that he arrived in Cuba to film the island's severe shortages of fuel, food, and power when authorities seized his cameras and gear at the airport.
‘I was almost taken hostage in Cuba’
Shirley alleged that intelligence agents shadowed him and his team, nearly leading to arrest because Cuban law bans independent reporting. He claimed in a video on X that he and his team are planning an escape route via the US embassy or early flight amid limited options.
“I was almost taken hostage in Cuba…,” Shirley captioned the video. “I went to Cuba to document the humanitarian crisis and show life under 60+ years of communism and now amid the US blockade. Once I landed, they seized all my cameras except my iPhone and had intelligence agents following me all day until my security noticed their spies tailing us to the hotel where they waited all night for us to come down.”
He added, “Under communism there is no free speech, and those who show the reality or speak up are imprisoned. Me going without a planned Cuban government guide nearly got me and my security taken hostage or imprisoned. The situation in Cuba is much worse than anyone knows.”
“So right now you currently have surgeons doing operations with flashlights because there's no power inside of the hotel in the hospitals. Right now I'm in the only hotel in Havana that has 24-7 electricity 24-7 because this is the only one that has that access. That's the reason why I booked this hotel… because their website was the only one that was operating 24-7,” Shirley said in the video.
Shirley added that he is “about a mile and a half away from the US embassy, adding that going to the embassy could be “our possible way out of this situation.” He alleged that there were three “Cuban spies “ near their hotel and that they “have to figure out how we're going to escape.”
Shirey said that he is “potentially about to be kidnapped” in Cuba, adding, “You guys should know exactly what is happening and the risk we are taking here in Cuba to try and show people the truth about the realities of communism and what's happening here in Cuba.”
