Nine years in prison for a young man who painted "Abajo Canel Singao" on the so-called "Malecón sin Agua" in Havana

The young Cuban Jorge Luis Boada Valdés, alleged author of a huge poster against the regime who appeared in the Santos Suárez neighborhood in January 2022, was sentenced to nine years in prison for the crime of "propaganda against the constitutional order."

The Cuban American National Foundation reported on Facebook that the young man was tried for that crime as well as for "other acts against State Security," for which the prosecutor's office asked him for 15 years in prison.

However, yesterday it emerged that the Popular Provincial Court of Havana sentenced him to nine years for the first crime and he was acquitted of the charge of "other acts against the security of the State" due to lack of evidence.

From prison, Boada Valdés acknowledged that he put up several posters in Lawton, Santos Suárez and even in Villa Marista, because he needed to somehow express his rejection of the Cuban regime.

"I was always alone and I fell into this. I put up posters in the street and later in Villa Marista," he told the Foundation in a phone call from prison.

On Wednesday it also emerged that the same Court sentenced the Cuban activist and former political prisoner to three years in prison. Luis Andrés Domínguez Sardiñas for the crime of "other acts against the security of the State."

The sentence was notified to him last Saturday by his lawyer, who informed him of the possibility of appealing the decision.

It is the sixth time that Domínguez Sardiñas He is sent to prison for political reasons.

This time State Security arrested and opened a case after obtaining information that I would receive a package from abroad with rubber bands to make "stone throwers" and confront the Police, according to the accused himself.

In addition, Johan Carlos Izquierdo Terán was convicted, also prosecuted for allegedly writing "Down with Díaz-Canel" in Havana. The court sentenced him to three years in prison for the crime of "other acts against state security", but he was acquitted of the charge of "enemy propaganda".

He was arrested for allegedly writing "Down with the dictatorship" on a wall, an action that, according to authorities, was intended to "encourage the overthrow of the Cuban social system."

In recent years the graffiti against the government They have been replicated throughout almost the entire island, as a sign of social discontent on the island, plunged into a deep crisis.

In this context, the regime has even threatened to apply "death penalty" to people who "subvert order.

The poster written in Santos Suárez by Boada Valdés especially outraged the Cuban regime because the phrase "Down with Canel Singao" was written in gigantic letters on the so-called "Malecón sin Agua" on Serrano Street between San Leonardo and Vía Blanca.

That day the government boasted a strong police deployment in the area, and brought in several experts and even dogs to find the person responsible for such audacity.