The Cuban regime is holding 554 individuals in prison for their participation in the anti-government protests of July 2021 in dozens of cities and towns across Cuba, the largest recorded in the country, reported the independent organization Justicia 11J on Wednesday.
In its third annual report, "Another Year Without Justice," for 2024, the non-governmental organization revealed that 1,586 people were detained for protesting during the popular uprising on July 11, of which 554—35%—are still in prison three years later, “with confirmed sentences following appeals that extend to more than 20 years of deprivation of liberty.”
"The repression on the Island, by state entities, is systematic and structural," warned Justicia 11J in the report presented virtually this Wednesday, which also includes a statistical and evaluative analysis of the protests that took place in Cuba between July 2023 and July 2024.
The NGO recalled that during the protests on July 11 and 12, 2021, members of the Ministry of the Interior (Minint), supported by the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and state-sponsored groups known as Rapid Response Brigades, "used armed violence against unarmed citizens."
About a dozen people were injured in protests across the country, and in the La Güinera neighborhood of Havana, 36-year-old Diubis Laurencio Tejeda was killed after being shot in the back by a police officer.
Justicia 11J emphasized that the protesters imprisoned following the mass protests and their families have been “victims of countless incidents violating their human rights, including various forms of harassment and repression.”
He lamented the death of 11J protester Luis Barrios Díaz while in state custody in November 2023, attributed to the "denial of timely medical attention" in the El Pitirre prison "1580" in Havana, where he was serving a six-year prison sentence.
The report specifies that, out of the 554 individuals still detained in connection with the 11J, 93% are men (518) and 7% are women (36). Additionally, 12 are between 20 and 21 years old—having been arrested at ages 17 and 18—; 383 are between 22 and 45; 92 are between 46 and 59; and 13 are 60 or older.
The provinces with the highest number of incarcerated individuals are Havana (198), Matanzas (85), Artemisa (65), Mayabeque (58), and Santiago de Cuba (44), which also recorded the highest number of arrests, the text stated.
Justicia 11J pointed out that, among the individuals still imprisoned, 492 (89%), which represents the majority, “had no prior connections with any political organization or civil society group, did not participate in activist groups or human rights defense, and did not collaborate with independent media.”
In addition, it was reported that at least 36 individuals imprisoned for participating in anti-government protests have been denied the benefit of transitioning to a less severe penitentiary regime; 15 were denied parole and four were denied extrapenal leave.
Four other prisoners from the 11J protests also received denials of benefits, including the Dama de Blanco Saylí Navarro Álvarez, who is incarcerated in the women's prison in Matanzas, “Bellotex,” and Amauris Arrate Hernández, who is in the Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba. Their requests for a reduction of 60 days of sanction for each year served were rejected.
Justicia 11J documented that in protests following July 11, 488 people were detained, of whom 144 are still in prison.
Between July 2023 and July 2024, there were at least 173 protests in public spaces in Cuba, driven by reasons such as "the persistence of the systemic crisis in the country related to decades of poor state management" and "the unsustainability of the totalitarian regime of the Communist Party of Cuba."
The NGO identified 44 instances of repression against protests and listed “the incursion of special troops into homes, beatings, detentions, enforced disappearances, the presence of patrols and other police forces to intimidate, threats of imprisonment, summons for interrogation, internet disruptions, discrediting of demonstrators, cutting off water service, acts of repudiation, and imposition of fines.”
During the period analyzed in the report, at least 35 individuals were arrested, of which 27 remain in custody.
The organization asserts that "the violence of the state's repressive bodies aimed at preventing dissent or criticism of government actions is directed against all sectors of society and the citizenry."
He also concluded that the regime's response to the protests that occurred between July 2023 and July 2024 "has demonstrated a continued zero tolerance towards protests."
Camila Rodríguez, a representative of Justicia 11J, noted this Wednesday that they have recorded 248 protests in public spaces during 2024, some of which "have been significant." According to her count, 16 were massive and 113 were group protests, as reported by the AP news agency.
Recently, the non-governmental organization Prisoners Defenders reported that the number of political prisoners rose to 1,117 in October, following new arrests related to peaceful protests in Cuba.
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