Jonathan David Muir Burgos, aged 16, has been confined in the maximum-security prison of Canaleta, in Ciego de Ávila, for over five weeks, and his desperate calls to his family since early morning reveal a physical and emotional deterioration that his loved ones describe as torture.
In the early hours of Wednesday, at 1:45, the teenager called his father, the evangelical pastor Elier Muir Ávila, from jail. "Dad, please, get me out of here, dad, I can’t take it anymore," he said.
In that same call, Jonathan described in detail the conditions he is facing: "Dad, I'm desperate to get out. The bedbugs are hurting me again, they're not letting me sleep, they're biting me, they're infecting my skin, and I can feel my brain is not going to hold up much longer."
The minor receives only one meal a day, around four in the afternoon, in a disposable cup of six to eight ounces, and does not receive any food again until the next day. The supplies that his family manages to send him run out quickly because he shares them with the other five inmates in his cell.
Jonathan suffers from severe dyshidrosis and infections caused by beta-hemolytic streptococcus and staphylococcus, which have depressed his immune system.
Two days after his arrest, on March 18, he was supposed to receive an Evertran bulb to treat his immune system; that treatment was never administered.
In prison, they also detected two intestinal parasites that have not received treatment, and he does not have access to soap or basic hygienic conditions.
His father described the situation harshly: "He is malnourished, losing more and more weight every day. He’s really thin."
Jonathan was arrested on March 16 when he went with his father to a police summons, following his participation in the protests on March 13 in Morón, triggered by daily power outages lasting over 26 hours and extreme food shortages.
The Municipal Prosecutor's Office of Morón ordered provisional imprisonment on April 2 and transferred him to Canaleta, an adult prison, accused of the crime of sabotage.
The habeas corpus appeals and requests for a change in precautionary measures submitted by his defense were rejected by the Ciego de Ávila court.
The case has generated increasing international pressure. The Defense Complaints Center CD sent a formal letter to UNICEF warning that the minor remains in conditions incompatible with the applicable international standards for minors.
Mike Hammer, head of mission at the United States Embassy in Havana, contacted the family last Monday and assured them that the U.S. government is doing everything possible to secure the release of the teenager.
The Member of the European Parliament from the Spanish People's Party Raúl de la Hoz Quintano also denounced the case this Thursday, joining Cuban-American congressmen Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Giménez, who have demanded Jonathan's freedom since last month.
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