The pastor Elier Muir, father of the 16-year-old teenager Jonathan Muir, has been in prison in Cuba since March 16, after participating in the riots in Morón, has told CiberCuba that he has been very busy these days gathering, at the request of his lawyer, signatures from his neighbors attesting to his son's good behavior. He has collected over 20 in total and hopes this will help get him out of jail. "They (the communists) want our son to die in prison," he stated in an audio message sent to this platform.
In this way, he aims to dismantle the narrative of "those front men who are fabricating a degrading file" against the minor who remains incarcerated in Canaleta (Ciego de Ávila), among adults, despite his delicate health condition. In fact, the child is awaiting a humanitarian visa to be able to travel to Washington DC, where his medical appointment for treating the condition of hidradenitis has been rescheduled up to eight times.
Elier Muir complains that despite the entire town of Morón participating in the protests and State Security agents recording what was happening, his son remains in prison, which he attributes to his role as a pastor.
"They are building a very dirty file against him, a file for a criminal, for a delinquent, for a person of low moral standing that does not correspond to the reality of who Jonathan is, honestly, and the community here demonstrates that by providing me with more than 20 signatures, even with the possibility of collecting a few more to hand them over to the lawyer so that she can defend him there," he added.
Jonathan Muir's father received a call on Tuesday from Mike Hammer, the head of the U.S. Embassy mission in Havana, expressing concern for his son's situation. He mentioned to CiberCuba that the Defense Reporting Center has urged UNICEF to urgently address the situation of the teenager, considering that at the age of 16, he remains imprisoned in a maximum-security adult facility.
"He does whatever he wants because it's a dictatorship; it's a macabre, criminal, and murderous regime. And what is happening with our son has given Cuba, the people of Cuba, and the whole world an opportunity to see how far they are willing to go. A sick child who needs special treatment," his father insisted.
Jonathan Muir still does not have a visa to travel to the United States. "They haven’t issued it to him and for the eighth time, his medical appointment has been rescheduled at that hospital in the Washington DC metropolitan area. He is supposed to be there on May 20th at 3 PM Eastern Time. He has that appointment, and if God permits, our son will be there to receive care, to be assisted, and he will be studied because he is undergoing very special treatment for his skin as well as for his body and his immune system, which is also depressed."
In statements to CiberCuba, the pastor explains that in Canaleta, Jonathan Muir remains in "inhospitable" and "degrading" conditions.
"He is malnourished, losing weight more and more every day. He is very thin. Last Tuesday, he had to be hydrated due to the diarrhea he is suffering from."
The teenager underwent an examination and two untreated parasites were detected. This is what his father is using as grounds to request his release from prison, as he could otherwise die from dehydration inside. "We need that international appeal. We need UNICEF and international human rights organizations that defend the integrity of children; we need the accredited international press here in Cuba to come and investigate what life is like for that teenager in prison," he emphasized.
Mike Hammer, head of mission at the United States Embassy in Cuba, published a video this Tuesday in which he talks with the parents of Jonathan David Muir Burgos, drawing more attention to the imprisonment of minors in the Island's common and adult prisons.
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