Journalist remembers repressive method in Cuba regarding Shakira

The Cuban independent journalistJosé Raúl Gallegotook advantage of the media hypeShakira's “shooting” against her ex-partner to remember the repressive method used in Cuba with the purpose of restricting the mobility of prisoners, known among the prison population as “shakiras”.

"Now that Shakira is a trending topic, it is good to remember that in Cuba the term 'shakira' refers to a form of torture used by prison authorities," Gallego said this Friday in hissocial networks.

Gallego recalled thereportfrom the ONGCubalex, dedicated to promoting and defending human rights through the law, which documents the use of this restraint system in order to torture inmates.

“In an investigation into torture techniques carried out by Cubalex, the arbitrary use of 'shakiras' in several Cuban prisons was documented to publicly display inmates when they are transferred to hospitals, to immobilize them when they are beaten and to make their stay in prison more difficult. the isolation cells,” the journalist recalled.

The “shakiras” are the transportation or mobility restriction belts that are used to transport prisoners, Gallego explained. These hand and foot shackles consist “of a chain placed around the waist, to which the hands are handcuffed and joined with another chain to handcuffs placed on the ankles.”

It is not clear why Cuban inmates called these shackles “shakiras.” Perhaps it is because of the chain that surrounds the waist, a look sometimes used by the singer, or because of the short steps, like little jumps, that the inmate is forced to take to advance, which would resemble the Colombian dance steps.

In any case, the “shakiras” are used by Cuban repressors not only to limit the mobility of prisoners, but also as restraints during beatings and other forms of torture, especially used against prisoners of conscience.

“Political prisoners such as Esteban Rodríguez, José Rolando Cáceres, Lázaro Díaz and Jonatan Farrat, have been some of those who have suffered the use of the 'shakiras'. In all cases they are political prisoners, who do not represent a danger to society or the jailers to transport them with this type of implements,” said Gallego.

In his publication, the journalist shared two articles fromCyberCubain which the use of “shakiras” as a method of torture and humiliation in the cases of political prisoners Esteban Rodríguez and Jonatan Farrat, a teenager arrested for participating inthe historic protests of July 11 (11J) in Cuba.

“Several of the prisoners who have been subjected to this torture technique have denounced the abrasions that these shackles cause to their skin, since many times they are even placed with shorts, leaving their flesh exposed to the friction of the metal,” added the journalist. exiled in Mexico.

Now, the networks are burning with the sentimental story of Shakira and Gerard Piqué, turned into a musical success with the collaboration of the Argentine producer and DJ Bizarrap, the young Cuban took advantage of the visibility of celebrity gossip to remember that, far from the spotlight, in the dungeons of the Cuban regime, people's rights are violated and He tortures activists and opponents using a method of restraint that the island mill has named after the Colombian singer.

“These are the Cuban 'shakiras'. One of the implements that the regime uses to torture inmates,” Gallego concluded in his publication.

In mid-June 2021, the wife of the Cuban political activistEsteban Rodriguez, reported that he had been transferred to a maximum security prison where he was kept handcuffed and handcuffed all day.

“They have handcuffs on him 24 hours a day, which immobilize his hands and feet, known as 'the Shakira'”, indicated Zuleidis Gómez Cepero after her husband was transferred to the Guanajay high-security prison after his arrest on April 30 for peacefully demonstrating in Havana, an act for which he was accused of “alteration of public order.”

At the end of that year it wasBarbara Farrat, mother of the teenagerJonathan Torres Farrat -one of the teenagers imprisoned after the social outbreak of 11J-, who denounced the use of 'shakiras' in the transfer of her son to a pediatric hospital.

"This shitty country doesn't care that my son is a minor, that he is not a danger to anyone,and they are so extremist that they even wear it with 'shakiras'. If my son is a minor before the law, why didn't they call me to tell me that they would take him to the pediatric hospital in Central Havana," he protested.