For a brief period, the Cuban poet, mother, and activist María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez has been able to hug her children again after four years and seven months of imprisonment for participating in the protests on July 11, 2021, in Quivicán, Mayabeque.
The reunion marks the first prison pass granted to him since his arrest, although his full freedom remains a pending debt.
Garrido was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges such as public disorder, contempt, and assault, in a process that human rights organizations have deemed part of the repression unleashed following the historic protests of July 11th.
Her sister, Angélica Garrido, was also arrested for the same reasons and sentenced to three years in prison. Angélica was released in 2024 and currently resides in Miami.
The images of the reunion show María Cristina embracing her children for the first time since her detention.
Her sister explained in statements to Telemundo 51 that the pass is temporary and that the activist will have to return to prison in the coming days to continue serving her sentence.
“He is not completely free... he is on leave. He returns to prison on Wednesday,” Angelica stated, visibly moved.
Both sisters were arrested after they marched through the streets of their town demanding freedom.
Since then, María Cristina's case has become one of the most visible among the women imprisoned for the 11J, both due to her profile as a writer and the allegations regarding the conditions of her confinement.
Reports of mistreatment and isolation
After her arrest, Garrido was held incommunicado for several days and later reported assaults at the correctional facility known as "The AIDS Prison," in San José de las Lajas.
According to what she told her husband, “they hit her twice, she urinated, they put her in a torture cell where she couldn’t sit or lie down and had to stand.”
Her case gained international notoriety when it was revealed that she was sent to a "punishment cell" with feces on the floor after refusing to shout, "Long live Fidel!"
Throughout his incarceration, family members have also reported harassment, isolation, and pressure within the prison system.
Writing and Resistance
During these nearly five years of confinement, María Cristina has continued to write poetry.
Her texts address freedom, motherhood, the forced separation from her children, and the experience of incarceration, solidifying her profile as a civic and cultural voice of protest.
In addition to her work as a writer, she is the Executive Director of the Republican Party of Cuba, an opposition organization based in Miami with a presence in various locations on the island, which has given greater political visibility to her case.
The prison pass represents an emotional relief for the family, but it does not alter the sentence that still hangs over them.
María Cristina will have to return to prison to continue serving the remaining years of her sentence.
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