Eight days after regaining his freedom, the former Cuban political prisoner Alexander Díaz Rodríguez described in a video published by opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer García the torment he endured during five years in the prisons of the regime.
Díaz Rodríguez, aged 45 and originally from Cárdenas, Matanzas, was arrested during the protests on July 11, 2021, and sentenced to five years in prison for the crimes of "sedition" and "contempt." He served his sentence without the regime granting him any form of leniency.
In the video, Ferrer presented the images with a warning: "Just eight days after being released from prison, Alexander Díaz Rodríguez summarizes in this video many of the things he experienced in those modern concentration camps that are the prisons of the Castro communist regime."
In his testimony, Díaz Rodríguez described his journey through several prisons and all the physical and verbal mistreatment he endured.
In an interview with NTN24 given shortly after his release, Díaz Rodríguez was more explicit: "It was very tough, very tough for me. I have gone through several experiences due to my principles and my offenses, several punishment cells, quite a few, averaging about 11 or 12 punishment cells, and a lot of physical and verbal abuse."
Despite his condition, the former prisoner summarized his situation with a brief phrase: "I'm a little skinny, but I'm alive".
The numbers behind that sentence are devastating. Upon entering prison, he weighed 81 kilos; when he was released in April 2026, he weighed only 37, a loss of 44 kilos in five years. He left with advanced thyroid cancer, hepatitis B, and severe malnutrition.
The thyroid cancer was diagnosed in October 2022, during his imprisonment, but he did not receive adequate oncological treatment. In April 2025, while still incarcerated, he was briefly admitted to Abel Santamaría Hospital for vomiting blood and then transferred to a correctional facility in Cabo de San Antonio for forced labor, without oncological care.
In July 2025, the organization Cubalex alerted that Díaz Rodríguez was on a hunger strike in the Kilo 5 and a Half prison in Pinar del Río. According to the organization, "Lieutenant Colonel Luis, the head of the medical post in the prison, refuses to provide him with essential medications due to his health condition, and does not authorize a medical diet, even though Alexander is showing signs of severe malnutrition." Cubalex was categorical: "Alexander's life is in danger".
Her mother, Moraima Rodríguez Batista, had publicly reported in May 2025 on her son's situation with a plea: "All I want is for my son to be able to live". He has cancer and is getting worse.
After the release of Díaz Rodríguez, the United States Embassy in Havana expressed concern for his deteriorated condition and stated that it would assess the available mechanisms to assist him, including a possible humanitarian visa for him to receive medical treatment in that country.
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