“There are still hundreds of participants serving sentences despite calls from democratic governments, the Vatican, the UN, Amnesty International and other international organizations, and in the midst of a political-economic context much worse than the one that caused that outbreak.”[1]
Yet “protests in Cuba do not cease. The last year has left other large-scale demonstrations in Bayamo, Granma; in Carreta del Morro, José Martí District and El Cobre, in Santiago de Cuba and in Santa Marta, Matanzas, during the days of March 17 and 18 , which also ended with arrests, although in a smaller number. In these protests, cries provoked by the current crisis were heard, such as ‘Food and medicine,’ ‘We are hungry,’ ‘Current,’ but there were also cries against the regime, such as ‘Down with the dictatorship,’ ‘Down with communism,’ ‘Down with Díaz-Canel,’ ‘Freedom’ and ‘Homeland and Life.’”
“Many of the reasons from July 2021 are still valid and, as of 2024, others continue to appear, such as inflation and the accelerated deterioration of basic services, so that both inside and outside the Island, other outbreaks similar to those of 11J are predicted. The regime knows this, and that is why it holds more than 600 political prisoners for demonstrating on that date and is particularly cruel to those who have a greater media reach due to their activism. This is the case of the leaders of opposition projects Félix Navarro and José Daniel Ferrer, the Ladies in White Sissi Abascal and Saily Navarro, the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara or the dissident Lizandra Góngora.”
“According to an analysis published in DIARIO DE CUBA, there is a pattern of denial of parole and suspension of correctional labor with arbitrary confinement imposed by the political authorities of the regime against the 11J prisoners. For many of these political prisoners and their families, the inequality in the treatment received by a person convicted of a common crime, regardless of the crime committed or the or the consequences produced, and a person convicted for political reasons is inexplicable.”
“In this regard, the former president of the Provincial Court of Villa Clara and member of the DIARIO DE CUBA team, Edel González Jiménez, maintains that “the subordination of the judicial system to the political power of the Island is the fundamental cause of the denial of the right to release prisoners, who are victims of the phenomenon of criminalization for political reasons.”
“The regime has also punished the relatives of political prisoners who have been tireless in the fight for the freedom of their loved ones and in denouncing the injustices, torture and mistreatment that the 11J prisoners have received. In conversation with DIARIO DE CUBA, several of these relatives tell how their lives have changed since then and how they see the situation in the country three years after the outbreak of July 11, 2021.”
“In the last three years, organizations such as Justicia 11J, Prisoners Defenders, and the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights have documented that between 963 and 1,113 people are detained for political reasons. Of these, at least 671 remain in prison for their participation in the July 11, 2021 protests.”
One of the parents of Jorge and Nadir Perdomo, imprisoned in different prisons without adequate medical care, said, “I think the protests on July 11 were something basic due to the situation that existed at that time during the pandemic, the power that was constantly going out, the neighbor who was dying, it was something very sad. At this moment, the current situation can also lead to protests due to the need for food and medicine in the country . Right now we are suffering from another epidemic in the country, and also the lack of power and everything else. Something that can make the protests return.”
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[1] ‘Too much injustice, too much abuse’: Three years after 7/11, Cuban prisons remain full and the streets are getting worse, Diario de Cuba (07/11/24).