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After 4 years of unjust imprisonment, the 11J prisoner José Alejandro Rodríguez Gelín spoke with Martí Noticias about his time in prison and his future aspirations.
The 26-year-old, who was imprisoned at just 22 in the Agüica Penitentiary in Matanzas, stated that “something very dark happened,” referring to an incident related to the theft of a box of cigarettes, which was used to justify the delay in his release.
Natural from Jovellanos, Matanzas, Rodríguez Gelín told journalist Yaima Pardo that he waited many times for his release, but something always happened: “They took days off my reduction, and that delayed my departure.”
"They wanted to make us believe that we were 'untouchables', that they were protecting us. But it was the opposite. Behind that mask was a repressive instinct. They even sent common prisoners to harm us," he recounted about his captors.
He also recalled the saddest episode in prison when he was prevented from attending his grandfather's wake: "First, they made me believe that they would take me to the wake... and it never happened. That was the greatest torture they inflicted on me."
"I see a village in spiritual, human, and economic misery," he reflects on the country he has found after its liberation.
The young man recounted that shortly after he was released from prison, a child offered to sell him sour oranges: "That's when I understood the level of deterioration in the country."
Regarding the process filled with irregularities that led him to prison, Rodríguez Gelín recounted that "there was really no process: when I sat before the investigation, they already had all the videos. I was portrayed as 'the ringleader.' Everything was decided."
It was “a play with a script that was already written,” he stated.
After his release, this 26-year-old feels that returning to studies is not an option, as he believes that "opening the door to university is opening a door to State Security to frame me again."
“They continue, and they are worse... The reasons are here, and deteriorating,” he stated about the reasons that led him to protest on July 11, 2021.
Rodríguez Gelín also sent a message of support to the political prisoners on hunger strike and highlighted the support he received in prison from fellow opposition member Félix Navarro, whom he referred to as "a father."
"My greatest contribution is my voice, my soul, my pen. I want a Cuba where Cubans love one another," he concluded.
Her liberation
Rodríguez Gelín returned home on November 18 after spending four and a half years in prison for participating in the peaceful protests on July 11, 2021.
Her mother, Meibel Gelin García, shared on Facebook the moment of her release, describing the reunion as a moment of joy that comes after years marked by suffering, uncertainty, and helplessness in the face of a judicial system used to punish civic dissent.
José Alejandro's return does not erase what we have experienced: "We have suffered and cried a lot, but today God brings him back to us, a fully mature man, firm in his convictions, with scars that only time and our love will manage to heal," Meibel pointed out.
The mother expressed her gratitude for the support received over the years and emphasized that her happiness cannot be complete while dozens of Cuban mothers continue to wait for their children still in prison.
"We will not stop thinking about the mothers who today wish to feel the embrace and freedom of their children, nor will we stop demanding the freedom of all political prisoners and helping and supporting those who remain unjustly behind bars," he emphasized.
A conviction based on accusations without evidence
The story of José Alejandro encapsulates the pattern of judicial repression that accompanied the largest protests during the Cuban dictatorship: hundreds of young people were charged with offenses such as assault, incitement to commit crimes, or public disorder, without any evidence of aggression or harm presented in the trials.
In the case of Rodríguez Gelín, State Security acknowledged that the young man did not commit an attack, the crime for which he was also sentenced to nine years in prison, a disproportionate punishment that his family has always denounced as a political retribution.
In January 2022, the family members of five detainees from Jovellanos - among them Rodríguez Gelín - publicly denounced the lack of legal guarantees in Cuba.
They pointed out the lack of evidence and the attitude of judges and prosecutors who acted as the repressive arm of the State, ignoring testimonies, evidence, and fundamental rights.
The young man's mother then explained that the trial attempted to present him as the "leader" of the people's demonstration, although no one could assert that he called, organized, or directed the protest.
A student who was attempted to be turned into a criminal
In October 2021, Meibel Gelin García sent an open letter to the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel, in which she revealed who her son truly was: not a political agitator, but a student of Spanish-Literature, with serious health issues and aspirations for personal advancement, like so many young Cubans disillusioned by the reality of the country.
The letter also mocked the allegations made by the Prosecutor's Office, which portrayed him as a "slacker," despite the fact that the young man was pursuing university studies before his arrest.
The mother recounted that her son did not harm anyone; he only shouted slogans and asked other demonstrators not to insult in front of the hospital or protest without health protection. Even so, he was punished as if he were a dangerous criminal.
He also reported that he spent 40 days locked in a room without ventilation, cut off from communication, and that even during health crises, the authorities refused to grant a change in conditions.
In that letter, Gelin wrote words that today, with his son at home, remain a poignant accusation: “I know how to name what they are doing to my son: injustice, repression.”
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