"They have a lot of hatred against my person," says Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca upon arriving in the U.S. as an exile.

The now former Cuban political prisoner Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca appeared this Wednesday at Miami Airport before a large press gathered there, to whom he explained the harsh conditions he went through in prison and how despite such ordeal, his destiny was not to die.

"It has been a great deal of torture they have subjected me to," said Valle Roca, who apologized to reporters for the state of confusion he is in after leaving the Combinado del Este prison in Havana, the largest Cuban prison.

"They have a lot of hatred towards me," added the independent journalist who spent three years behind bars.

Valle Roca explained that the animosity towards him is accentuated by his origins. Nephew of the opposition leader Vladimiro Roca, who passed away last year, and grandson of the communist leader Blas Roca Calderío, the opposition member believes that the regime's vindictiveness towards him is partly due to what he and his family represent.

Valle Roca confirmed that it was a forced exile and that it was clear in the way they spoke to her that if she returns to the island, she will not survive.

Last Monday, he was transferred from Combinado del Este to the Convicted Ward of the National Hospital under "maximum security" measures.

He says that at the hospital center he felt treated like "a dangerous terrorist." At four in the morning this Wednesday, State Security agents transferred him to the José Martí International Airport, where his wife was waiting for him with clothes to change and travel.

Right now, the biggest enemy that Cuba and the Cuban Government have is themselves, because they are so corrupt and corruption is so deep inside... We are talking about generals, colonels...", stated the reporter firmly, who since childhood mingled with the most important families of the Cuban leadership, especially with Raúl Castro's clan.

About the moment he was arrested in June 2021, he says he was taken to Villa Marista and immediately went on a hunger strike and spent five days without drinking water.

“My kidneys felt like they were about to burst, my blood pressure skyrocketed, and I am thankful that people took to the streets on July 11th and 12th, that's what kept me alive, that's what brought me out of a state of starvation,” he explained.

He stated that although his fate was not to die, he has undergone a significant physical deterioration in the last three years, a wear and tear from which he will now have to recover little by little.

Valle Roca obtained a humanitarian parole managed by his wife at the United States Embassy in Havana, a condition imposed by the Government to release him in exchange for exile.

Lázaro Yuri was arrested on June 15, 2021 after filming and sharing the video in which activists threw leaflets with phrases from José Martí from a rooftop in Havana, calling for the release of political prisoners, the celebration of free elections, and democracy in Cuba.

In August 2022, he was tried and sentenced to five years in prison for continuous enemy propaganda.

Now, three years after his arrest, gaunt and with a significant weight loss that has taken him from 80 kilograms to 53, Valle Roca is aware that the first thing will be to seek medical help.

Eralidis Frómeta, Yuri Roca's wife, also spoke to the reporters, listing the physical problems with which Valle Roca has left prison, ranging from visual damage, kidney stones, and sclerosis in the aorta vein, as well as a deviated septum due to the beatings he has received.

Frómeta took the opportunity to thank the people who helped and accompanied her during this hard time.

"I want to thank all of you, all the NGO organizations, lawyer Teresa Ortiz, Cuba demands, all the activists, human rights defenders who made it possible for us not to give up in Cuba. They were by our side the whole time, supporting us in everything," he explained.

"If we had not accepted to come with this humanitarian parole, he would not have left prison. They would have let him die, because that was the last message that was conveyed to me, that if I did not accept to leave, he would have to spend five more years carrying the load," he concluded.

Lázaro Yuri has a long way ahead to overcome the physical and mental damages that prison has left him with. For now, Valle Roca and his wife will move to Philadelphia, where they will reunite with their family.

Last October, the non-governmental organization Cubalex reported that Lázaro Yuri Roca had been beaten by guards at the Eastern Combination prison.

Days later, his wife visited him in prison and found him very weak, without strength for anything, and with a physical condition resembling that of a person with a terminal illness.

"They are letting him die, his situation is critical to the point that a fatal outcome could occur," Eralidis Frómeta asserted at the time.

In September, for four days, Valle Roca received its first pass to be able to visit her house.

Outside of prison, he reported that he was not receiving medical attention and that his health condition was very delicate. "I am deaf, I have memory loss, I am losing my sight, I am thin," the journalist pointed out.

In the last few hours, a call has been made to human rights organizations and the Cuban exile community in general to support Lázaro Yuri Roca and facilitate his integration into the United States, as well as to ensure that he receives the necessary medical attention to recover his physical and psychological health.

Help has also been requested so that his daughter and grandchildren, who are still in Cuba, can reunite with him.