The young Cuban Nelson Caballero Díaz, 24 years old and a father of two small children, began a hunger strike in a prison in Camagüey, where he has been held since October 18 after protesting against the blackouts in Cuba.
Mr. Díaz, father of a two-year-old and a two-month-old, told his wife that he would rather die than remain imprisoned for an unjust cause, according to a report from the non-governmental organization Cubalex.
Family members of the young man explained to Martí Noticias that Caballero Díaz went out to protest against the blackouts in his community, located in the municipality of Jimaguayú. The demonstration was peaceful, with other neighbors participating by banging pots and pans and chanting slogans against the regime.
However, during his detention, the authorities and a group of informants violently beat him until several neighbors intervened to stop the assault.
He was transferred to the hospital due to the injuries sustained. There, doctors recommended "monitoring for possible signs of neurological alarm," according to information provided to Cubalex.
His wife, Daimara Aliaga Rodríguez, was informed of this situation the day after his detention, at two in the morning, by a case officer who identified herself as Ali.
“She called me a little after two in the morning, asking if I knew that my husband was in the hospital. I told her no, that I was just finding out with her,” Daimara told Martí Noticias.
Her husband was only in the hospital facility for one day before being taken to a State Security unit in the provincial capital of Camagüey. Daimara has only been able to see him once since he has been imprisoned, and that visit lasted just 10 minutes.
"They wouldn’t let me bring him food. I went to give him a kiss, and they told me the time was up," she commented.
The accusations that the regime has made against him include attempted murder and "incitement to commit a crime," all of which are deemed unjust given that his protest was peaceful.
The case of this young father is joined by that of many Cubans who have been prosecuted by the authorities for raising their voices against the crisis that the country is experiencing.
Recently, the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Cuba (FGR) announced that criminal proceedings have been initiated in the provinces of Havana, Mayabeque, and Ciego de Ávila against individuals who participated in protests over the ongoing blackouts affecting the country.
The confirmation came amid an energy crisis exacerbated by the recent passage of Hurricane Rafael, which left much of the country without electricity following successive collapses of the national electric power system (SEN).
According to a statement from the FGR, the protesters are charged with offenses related to threats, public disorder, and damage, and they have been placed under provisional detention as a precautionary measure.
The repressive apparatus of the Cuban regime emphasized that the incidents included assaults on authorities and inspectors, resulting in injuries and disturbances of public order. This claim has not been substantiated, as recent images of protests circulating on social media show, beyond shouts and pot-banging, that the behavior of the demonstrators appears to be peaceful, without expressions of violence.
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