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The Embassy of the United States in Cuba publicly denounced the abuses and mistreatment suffered by political prisoner Walnier Luis Aguilar, one of the young individuals imprisoned for participating in the protests of July 11, 2021 (11J), and called for the release of all prisoners of conscience on the island.
“We are very concerned about the abuse and treatment of political prisoner Walnier Luis Aguilar and the hundreds of others who remain unjustly imprisoned. It is time for their release.,” stated the diplomatic mission on its official account on X (Twitter).
The report came hours after the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) raised concerns about the situation of the young opposition member, who was recently transferred to the Agüica prison in Matanzas, nearly 200 kilometers away from his family in Havana.
The transfer, according to the agency, constitutes a punitive punishment imposed by State Security to isolate him and break his resistance.
The father of Walnier, Wilber Aguilar, reported on social media that he was summoned by police officers shortly after receiving a disrupted call from his son from prison.
This is an abuse. They didn't let me talk to him. They're playing with our anguish, the father wrote on Facebook, where he shared his concern about the young man's physical and emotional state.
Aguilar Rivera, 24 years old, was sentenced to several years in prison for his participation in the peaceful protests on July 11th in Havana.
Your case has been documented by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which granted protective measures to your family in 2025 in response to the harassment and reprisals suffered.
The transfer of Walnier coincides with that of another political prisoner, the activist Ángel Cuza, who was sent to the prison in Guanajay, in Artemisa, under the same reasoning.
Both were taken from Combinado del Este under the justification of an alleged hunger strike, a version denied by their relatives.
Cuza reported from his new cell that he is isolated and without contact with other inmates: “I am in a sealed cell, alone. They say I have a visitor tomorrow, but I don't know what that will be like,” he stated in an audio message shared by independent journalist Yaima Pardo.
Human rights organizations and independent media have reiterated that the Cuban regime uses forced transfers as a method of punishment to psychologically weaken political prisoners and their families.
On multiple occasions, prisoners have been sent to facilities far from their homes without prior notice or legal justification.
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