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The Christian pastor Minervina Burgos López broke her silence on Friday to publicly plead for the freedom of her son, the teenager Jonathan David Muir Burgos, 16 years old, who had been 37 days confined in the maximum-security prison of Canaleta, in Ciego de Ávila, a facility for adults where he shares a cell with common prisoners convicted of serious crimes, reported Telemundo51.
Jonathan was arrested on March 16 along with his father, the evangelical pastor Elier Muir Ávila, when both attended a police summons in Morón, days after participating in the protests on March 13, during which residents shouted "Freedom!" and "Down with the dictatorship!" in response to daily power outages lasting more than 26 hours and extreme food shortages.
The father was released shortly after, but Jonathan remains imprisoned. The Municipal Prosecutor's Office of Morón formally charged him with the crime of sabotage on April 2, a charge that can carry a prison sentence of seven to 15 years, or more in aggravated cases.
"Our son Jonathan has been imprisoned in Canaleta for 37 days. He communicates with us daily and asks us to get him out of that place, saying he can't stand being there any longer," denounced Minervina Burgos López, who usually doesn't speak with the press—typically that has been the father's role—because she cannot hold back her tears.
The mother warned that the physical and mental health of the teenager is deteriorating alarmingly. "He is experiencing crises: he falls asleep and when he wakes up he is disoriented, can't remember where he is, and can't orient himself properly. He asks us to take him out," she told the media.
The situation is particularly serious because Jonathan suffers from severe dyshidrosis, a chronic skin condition that nearly cost him his life in May 2021. His father reported that on April 18, he was supposed to receive medication to strengthen his immune system, but the prison does not have the means to administer it. "His life is in danger: vagal processes, hypoglycemia, he cannot fall asleep, and bedbugs are infecting his body and causing him a lot of harm," said Elier Muir, who also revealed that his son yelled at him in an early morning call: "Dad, get me out of here, I can't take it anymore."
The legal resources submitted by the defense —a habeas corpus and a request to change the precautionary measure to house arrest— were rejected by the Provincial Court of Ciego de Ávila. The regime also threatens to press charges against the father and imprison him.
The case has escalated to an international level. The head of mission of the United States Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammer, met with the family on April 20 and stated: "He should be released." Spanish MEP Raúl de la Hoz Quintano, from the Popular Party, denounced the case on Thursday before the European Parliament.
On Friday, the same day the mother spoke publicly, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights adopted Resolution 30/2026 granting precautionary measures to Jonathan, as it deemed that his rights to life, personal integrity, and health are at risk of irreparable harm. Cuba had not responded to the prior request sent by the organization on April 10.
The case directly contradicts the statements made by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who on April 12 in an interview with NBC News denied the existence of political prisoners on the Island, when Jonathan had already been in Canaleta for several days. Independent organizations have estimated the number of political prisoners in the nation to be in the hundreds, many of whom were demonstrators from July 11, 2021.
Desperate, Jonathan David's father made a direct appeal to the international community, asking U.S. Congress members of Cuban descent, Marco Rubio, and anyone who can influence, to "please ask the Cuban government to set our son free. His life is in danger."
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