The United States government requested the release of two Cuban religious leaders whom the Castro regime keeps in prison.
Brian Nichols, Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department, remembered on his Twitter account Loreto Hernández García and Reverend Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, both imprisoned for their participation in the 11J protests.
"We continue to urge the release of political prisoners such as Loreto Hernández García and the Rev. Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo in Cuba, whom the Cuban government detained as part of its practice of prohibiting dissent, including for expressing religious beliefs," Nichols said.
The official stressed that his government defends the right of all people to exercise their freedom of religion or belief.
"On the 25th anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act, our thoughts are with religious leaders who face persecution, prison and exile for defending this fundamental freedom," he added.
Rosales Fajardo is a Protestant pastor of the Church of Mount Zion, in Palma Sariano, Santiago de Cuba, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence for the alleged crimes of attack, instigation to commit a crime and contempt.
The government claims that on July 11, 2021, Fajardo participated in a violent attack against law enforcement officers, trying to force his way into the Communist Party headquarters in Palma Soriano and wounding seven officers and one civilian, something he denies. .
For his part, Hernández García is a Yoruba leader also sentenced to seven years in prison for demonstrating peacefully in the 11J protests in Placetas, Villa Clara.
The religious, declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, has had serious health problems, as he suffers from diabetic neuropathy. Despite this, he is serving his sentence in the Guamajal prison, in the aforementioned central province.
Last July, two years after the historic protests against the Cuban dictatorship,Brian Nichols demanded the immediate release of all imprisoned political prisoners for exercising their right to free expression and demonstration that day.
"Two years later, the world remembers the brave 9/11 protests in Cuba. Today, more than 700 people who participated in those peaceful protests remain in Cuban prisons, sentenced to decades in prison. We continue to urge their immediate and unconditional release," he noted on Twitter.
In July 2022, the official once again showed his rejection of the repression unleashed by the regime against participants in the protests.
"HeCuban people inspired the world by peacefully protesting for fundamental freedoms. Unfortunately, a year later, more than 700 protesters are still detained and hundreds have been sentenced to prison," he stressed.
He also shared a video with images of the 11J protests and the repression against citizens, and others that showed the decadence in which the country is mired.
"Right now hundreds of Cubans are being sentenced to spend years in prison. Their crime? Protesting peacefully," he said.
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