Cuban political prisoner Yoanky Báez Albornoz, sentenced to 14 years of deprivation of liberty following his participation in the protests of July 11, 2021, was beaten last Tuesday by officials at the Combinado del Este prison, as reported by one of his fellow inmates.
In an audio published on the Facebook social network by human rights activist Ángel Moya Acosta, inmate Ángel Castro Cabrera recounted that, around 7:20 in the morning on May 14, Báez was a victim of the repression by the officers identified as Bryan and Jancarlos, in the prison located in Havana.
The prisoner -belonging to the 1301 company- exposed Báez's situation and referred to the members of the Ministry of the Interior as "abusers and torturers", one of the repressive organs of the Castro dictatorship. Faced with this situation, Daimy Albornoz Rodríguez, the condemned's mother, explained to Martí Noticias that the aggression took place on the day when it was her son's company's turn to go out to the patio to enjoy the sun, and that, indeed, one of the jailers could be tried in a Military Tribunal.
"It was his company's turn in the yard, and when they opened the gate and said 'Company, yard,' my son went out to the yard. But when it was his turn to go out, the guard told him, 'Not you, you are not going to the yard, stay here, stand here.' And my son said no, that he was not going to stop anywhere," Albornoz added.
Likewise, he indicated that the young man's refusal brought a warning from the officer, who threatened to take him to headquarters, to which Báez replied, "Well, you can take me wherever you want because I am not afraid and I have not committed any crime."
When my son started walking, (the officer) follows him and a prisoner tells (my son) 'Yoanky, be careful!', and when my son turns around, the guard slaps him. The first slap doesn't hit him, and on the second one, the prisoners get involved and, above the prisoners, the guard slapped my son in the face and then the prisoners started shouting 'Freedom, freedom!, Homeland and Life, Homeland and Life!' and then the entire building joined in the chorus when they started hearing the shouts from the third floor," the mother told the press.
Báez was arrested after participating in the peaceful protests in the summer of 2021 at the Toyo Corner in the capital municipality of Diez de Octubre.
Less than a week ago - last Sunday - a group of mothers of political prisoners from July 11th published an open letter in which they requested the release of their children and warned the regime authorities that they will not stop denouncing the injustice that embitters their lives.
Through this claim, we make it clear that no threat or pressure will be able to silence our feelings or deter us from the mission that, as mothers, corresponds to us. We carry our voice as our flag, the love for our children, and the conviction that they are innocent," they stated in the letter.
The group known as the "Mothers of July 11th" called for solidarity from their fellow citizens and the international community, and defended the innocence of over 1,000 peaceful protesters who were tried and imprisoned for taking to the streets to protest against the regime and demand their rights and freedoms.
They are men and women of good, innocent and dignified Cubans, whose only crime was to exercise their right to express themselves freely about what they considered and consider a just claim: a better Cuba, with freedom and human rights for all. However, their voices were silenced in the worst way, through extreme military orders that turned a peaceful demonstration into a violent confrontation," they said in the letter.
As the third anniversary of the historic protests approaches, thousands of Cuban families bear the pain caused by the repression of a totalitarian regime against individuals who have peacefully demonstrated.