The Cuban activist Idelisa Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia launched a campaign on Facebook to raise funds to purchase a home for the political prisoner Alexander Díaz Rodríguez, who since his release in April has been facing a critical situation: without stable housing, unable to work, and currently battling cancer.
Alexander, 45 years old and originally from Cárdenas, Matanzas, was sentenced to five years in prison for participating in the protests of July 11, 2021, and he served his entire sentence at Kilo 5 and a Half Prison in Pinar del Río, without receiving any kind of leniency from the regime.
Salcedo Verdecia, exiled in Miami, detailed that thanks to the solidarity of some individuals, a temporary rent arrangement has been maintained for Alexander to have a roof over his head while he continues his treatments; however, she warned that this assistance cannot be sustained indefinitely.
The goal of the campaign is to raise $4,000 to buy a small house, which, according to the activist, includes most of the furniture.
Anyone who wishes to help can contact him directly at +53 5 6479804 or reach out to Salcedo Verdecia at 786-339-6875.
In a video posted on Facebook, Alexander himself explains his situation in a calm voice: "I left under extreme conditions. I have to pay rent, I can't find a job, I am being pursued by State Security, I have fallen ill, I came out with cancer...".
His situation is not new. When he was released on April 12, his physical condition sparked international outrage: he entered prison weighing 81 kilograms and came out weighing only 37, a loss of 44 kilograms over five years. During his incarceration, he developed thyroid cancer, contracted hepatitis B, and was subjected to punitive cells, beatings, and physical and verbal abuse.
"They were very hard, very hard for me. I have gone through a number of things with conviction of my principles and my offenses, several punishment cells, which were quite a few, an average of 11 or 12 punishment cells, and a lot of physical and verbal mistreatment," he declared in public testimony.
The case made headlines in the Spanish newspaper ABC on April 22, and the head of the U.S. Embassy mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, personally called him after seeing the images: "What this man has suffered is inexplicable. The United States will continue to insist on the release of all those who are still unjustly imprisoned."
Despite international attention, more than a month after his release, Alexander remains in Cuba without resources or a home of his own. Salcedo Verdecia clarified that at this moment he has no possibility of applying for a visa, ruling out emigration as an immediate solution.
The opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, from the Patriotic Union of Cuba, described the case before the European Parliament on May 5: "He came out of a communist prison like the prisoners who survived the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Skin and bones."
The case of Alexander illustrates the pattern that human rights organizations denounce: the regime releases severely ill political prisoners after they have served their full sentences, without medical attention, resources, and under the pressure of State Security. According to Prisoners Defenders, Cuba had 1,214 political prisoners as of February 2026.
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