The Cuban political prisoner Yasmany González Valdés published on Monday, during his first prison visit in three years, images of the before and after of his admission to Combinado del Este that show alarming physical deterioration: from an athletic and muscular build to extreme thinness with a sunken face and very lean arms.
"I think it's unnecessary to say anything because the images speak louder than words," wrote González Valdés from his wife Ilsa Ramos's profile.
The activist and rapper is serving a four-year sentence imposed in February 2024 after being accused of "propaganda against the constitutional order" for painting anti-government graffiti on walls in Havana, including "I do not vote in a dictatorship. The 75 live," referencing the prisoners of the Black Spring of 2003. His wife described that process as a "judicial circus."
The deterioration shown in the images does not surprise those who have followed his case. In September 2025, Ilsa Ramos described her husband as "a skeleton": a sunken face, arms like "two sticks," pants that hung off of him due to extreme thinness, and without any teeth, as he was never able to complete the dental treatment he had paid for before being arrested.
Months earlier, there had been reports of a drastic reduction in food rations for the inmates of Combinado del Este, the largest prison in Cuba, which has been repeatedly highlighted by human rights organizations as a center of torture and cruel treatment against opponents.
In his post, González Valdés clarified that he is not free: "I am not at liberty, but rather on minimum (conditions). For now, I am working to show you that I am not a criminal, that I am a working man, that I am not a murderer or a common thief but a POLITICAL PRISONER, even if they do not acknowledge me as such."
He also issued a direct warning to the regime: "If they revoke me for this publication, they will see the repression against those who speak the truth become even more evident."
In the photographs, he is wrapped in the Cuban flag, with his index finger raised in a defiant gesture, and has tattoos on his back that read "Free or Martyr," "P11·75," and the date "20-4-2023," the day of his detention.
González Valdés issued a call to the international community to "investigate the matter thoroughly," mentioning his "brothers from 11J and all those who are serving sentences for exercising their right to strike or any other right such as freedom of expression." He quoted José Martí: "The bodies of martyrs are the most beautiful altar of honor."
The persecution against González Valdés began before his final detention. In April 2022, he was fined under Decree Law 370 for publishing denunciations against the regime on social media, and that same year he was arrested while attempting to demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court in solidarity with the prisoners from 11J. After his arrest in 2023, he was first transferred to Villa Marista for a month before arriving at Combinado del Este.
His case is part of an ongoing repression. Prisoners Defenders documented 1,192 political prisoners in Cuba in December 2025, a historic record, and González Valdés is among the 17 Cuban artists who remain incarcerated.
After the publication of the pass, Ilsa Ramos reported that they cut off their internet access: "They cut off my internet, for the moment I can't do anything, apparently what my husband Yasmany González Valdés said carries a lot of weight."
The conditions in Cuban prisons have worsened amid the economic crisis: inmates and their families have reported fearing for their lives due to outbreaks of illnesses, beatings, and deaths in custody documented in 2026.
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