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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) adopted today Resolution 30/2026, granting precautionary measures in favor of Jonathan David Muir Burgos, a 16-year-old Cuban adolescent detained in the maximum-security prison of Canaleta, in Ciego de Ávila, after determining that his rights to life, personal integrity, and health are at risk of irreparable harm.
In a statement published on its website, the organization recalls that Jonathan was arrested on March 16 while he was accompanying his father, the evangelical pastor Elier Muir Ávila, to a police summons in Morón, days after participating in the protests on March 13, which were triggered by power outages lasting more than 26 hours a day and extreme food shortages.
The Cuban regime did not provide any information to the IACHR in response to its requests, including an official request sent on April 10 to Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, which demanded a response within five days.
The Municipal Prosecutor's Office of Morón ordered provisional imprisonment on April 2, accusing the teenager of the crime of sabotage, with penalties that can range from seven to 15 years or more in aggravated cases.
The habeas corpus petitions and requests for a change of precautionary measure submitted by his defense were rejected by the Provincial Court of Ciego de Ávila.
The detention conditions described by the family are alarming. Jonathan suffers from severe dyshidrosis, infections from beta-hemolytic streptococcus and staphylococcus that have depressed his immune system, and two untreated intestinal parasites. According to his father, his life is in danger.
He receives a single portion of food each day, served in a disposable cup of six to eight ounces, around four in the afternoon, and he has no access to soap or basic hygiene conditions.
In the early hours of Thursday, at 1:45 a.m., Jonathan called his father from jail. Among his words was the plea: "Dad, please get me out of here, I can't take it anymore. The bedbugs are hurting me again, they won't let me sleep, they're biting me, they're infecting my skin, and I feel like my brain is not going to hold up any longer."
His father described the situation with distress. "He is malnourished, every day he is getting thinner and thinner. He is very skinny."
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