Guards at the Holguín Provincial Prison threatened the political prisoner Roilán Álvarez Rensoler with execution for him and the other Cubans incarcerated for political reasons if the United States carries out a military intervention in Cuba, according to a report from one of his sisters in an audio published this Thursday by Martí Noticias.
"Threats that, if something were to happen here on the Island; that is to say, if the Government of the United States were to intervene, the first ones to be executed would be them, just for thinking differently," declared the woman, whose words reveal the level of intimidation that political prisoners on the island are subjected to.
The activist's sister also described Álvarez Rensoler's health as "critical": he suffers from constant headaches, has a "delicate" kidney, experiences frequent fevers, and cannot lie down in bed due to the bedbugs infesting his cell.
Álvarez Rensoler, a member of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU), was detained on January 30 along with other activists in Holguín, accused of making antigovernmental graffiti and damaging a billboard featuring an image of Fidel Castro in Birán.
After his arrest, the political prisoner began a hunger strike at the detention center known as "Everyone Sings" in Pedernales to demand his release.
The protest lasted 49 days and resulted in a cardiac arrest on March 19, when he was hospitalized at the "Lucía Íñiguez Landín" Clinical Surgical Hospital in Holguín and resuscitated with a defibrillator.
That same day, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures through Resolution 19/26, requesting guarantees for his life and integrity from the Cuban regime.
Álvarez Rensoler ended the hunger strike on March 19 after speaking with his sister Arianna, consuming fruit juice, and was subsequently transferred to the Provincial Prison of Holguín, known as "El Yayal," where he remains with serious aftereffects.
The reported threats fall within the secret plan "Baraguá", approved by the National Defense Council on January 17 as part of the "plans and measures for the transition to a State of War."
According to Diario de Cuba, this plan —developed by the Ministry of the Interior in coordination with the Attorney General's Office— includes the "isolation" of political prisoners in the event of armed conflict and their use as hostages in potential negotiations for cessation of hostilities.
Las amenazas de fusilamiento ahora denunciadas sugieren que el uso como moneda de cambio no es la única opción prevista para quienes el régimen encarcela por sus ideas.
For common prisoners, the "Baraguá" plan provides for releases and exceptional military mobilizations, excluding those whom the authorities deem as "risks to national security," a category that includes opponents and dissidents.
The case of Álvarez Rensoler is not the only one that illustrates the repressive escalation. The independent activist and journalist Ángel Cuza was arrested on April 30 in front of his minor daughter in Havana by State Security agents, and transferred this week to the El Vivac detention center in Calabazar.
"The girl says that they grabbed him by the neck and hit him," recounted Cuza's wife in an audio message sent to Diario de Cuba.
Cuza also reported that the agents planted false evidence—bullets with gunpowder—against him to charge him with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
According to the organization Prisoners Defenders, Cuba currently has around 650 political prisoners, a figure that makes the island one of the countries with the highest number of politically imprisoned individuals in the Western Hemisphere.
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