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The Spanish newspaper ABC published shocking photographs of Cuban political prisoner Alexander Díaz Rodríguez on its cover this Wednesday, highlighting the devastating contrast between his appearance in 2018 and his current state of physical deterioration.
The photographs show a 45-year-old man who appears to be over 65, with his ribs and bones visible beneath his skin, after five years in the regime's prisons.
The interview was conducted exclusively from Artemisa by Camila Acosta, correspondent for ABC in Havana, and published on pages 28 and 29 of the newspaper.
I was in Cuban punishment cells, they beat me, I was hungry and cold," denounces Díaz Rodríguez, who was arrested during the protests on July 11, 2021 in the province of Artemisa and sentenced to five years in prison for alleged public disorder offenses.
In statements to the newspaper, he summarized his situation: "they finished me off".
When he entered prison, he weighed 81 kilos; upon leaving, he barely weighed 37. His physical deterioration is the most brutal testament to the conditions he was subjected to during his imprisonment.
In prison, he did not receive proper oncological treatment or medical follow-up, as he recounted in the interview.
The express also confessed his fear after regaining freedom: I'm afraid something might happen to me on the street.
Your case is not an isolated incident. According to data from human rights organizations, 65% of political prisoners in Cuba are protesters from the 11J, which highlights the extent of the repression carried out by the Cuban regime against those who took to the streets on that historic day of protests.
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