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The Cultural Rights Observatory (ODC) issued an urgent alarm regarding the serious deterioration in the health of Cuban political prisoner Juan Enrique Pérez Sánchez, who has been suffering from a persistent fever exceeding 39 degrees Celsius for more than a month.
According to the report from the NGO that monitors and denounces violations of cultural and human rights in Cuba—particularly in contexts of repression against artists, activists, and citizens—Pérez Sánchez has not received adequate medical attention from the prison authorities at Quivicán prison in the province of Mayabeque.
In a phone call made on August 1, 2025, Pérez Sánchez himself called for help due to his precarious physical condition. According to the report from the ODC, his voice was barely recognizable due to extreme weakness and difficulty breathing.
The last mandatory visit, which took place on July 8, had already raised alarms: during that meeting, the prisoner fainted twice and had to be revived by the prison medical staff. Since then, the symptoms —high fever, persistent headaches, cramps in the face and limbs— have not subsided.
Although he was transferred to the provincial capital for diagnostic tests, such as a blood count and a chest X-ray, the results did not show clear signs of illness. Nonetheless, the episodes of fever and fainting continue.
Given such a nonspecific clinical picture, the family and activists are questioning why he has not been admitted to the inmates' ward of the hospital in San José de las Lajas for a more thorough examination.
Juan Enrique Pérez, 42 years old, suffers from hypertension, asthma, a severe sleep disorder, and has experienced partial facial paralysis as a sequel to his hunger strikes in prison. Everything points to a possible neuropathy or some type of systemic organ failure that requires urgent attention.
Medical neglect has been classified as a form of torture by the ODC, which points out that the case of Pérez Sánchez is not an isolated incident. Deaths in custody within the Cuban prison system have significantly increased in recent years, according to independent organizations.
“Isn't a month of high fever and regular fainting spells reason enough to hospitalize a human being?” questioned the Observatory in its statement.
The political prisoner was detained on July 12, 2021, after participating in the peaceful protests of July 11, in the town of Vegas, in the municipality of Nueva Paz, where he held a sign with a phrase that resonated strongly amid the spontaneous demonstrations: “The hunger was so great that we ate the fear”.
The challenging message, in an unprecedented context of civic explosion, went viral and prompted the sentence imposed by the Prosecutor's Office of eight years in prison for the alleged crimes of sabotage, contempt, and public disorder.
During his time in prison, Pérez Sánchez has been a victim of beatings, isolation, threats, suspension of phone calls, malnutrition, and punishments for refusing to participate in “ideological rehabilitation” programs. In one of his most striking protests, on September 30, 2023, he sewed his mouth shut with wires as a display of despair over his current situation.
His wife, Dayana Aranda Batista, has reported on multiple occasions the harassment by authorities against her husband and has also been a direct victim of repression. In April 2023, she was beaten by State Security agents who attempted to take her for questioning without a legal summons.
The case of Juan Enrique Pérez Sánchez has become a symbol of repression against the demonstrators of July 11. The international community and human rights organizations have been urged to demand that Cuba comply with the Mandela Rules, a set of minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners adopted by the UN General Assembly.
The ODC urgently calls on public opinion, media, international organizations, and democratic governments to express solidarity with the situation of the political prisoner and to demand that the Cuban regime ensure their physical integrity and their right to medical attention, as stipulated by the international treaties ratified by the island.
The life of Juan Enrique Pérez Sánchez is in danger, and his case encapsulates the systematic violation of human rights experienced by hundreds of political prisoners in Cuba.
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