Mike Hammer, mission chief of the United States Embassy in Cuba, personally visited the political prisoner Alexander Díaz Rodríguez in Artemisa on Monday and publicly demanded the release of all those detained from the 11J protests, in a diplomatic gesture that took place while State Security agents monitored the area around the former inmate from nearby corners.
The U.S. Embassy in Cuba posted a video of the visit with a direct message to the regime: “We visited the recently released political prisoner Alexander Díaz Rodríguez in Artemisa to learn about his suffering and current situation. Many political prisoners remain unjustly incarcerated for peacefully expressing themselves on July 11, 2021. It is outrageous that five years later, they and their families continue to suffer. Release them!”
The video itself documents the presence of State Security agents stationed at the corners of the location where Díaz Rodríguez was, a surveillance that the regime maintains over him even more than a month after his release.
Díaz Rodríguez, 45 years old and originally from Cárdenas, Matanzas, was arrested during the protests on July 11, 2021, and sentenced to five years in prison for "sedition" and "disobedience."
He served his sentence in full at Kilo 5 y Medio prison in Pinar del Río, without receiving any leniency from the regime, and was released on April 12, 2026.
Upon leaving, his physical condition was devastating: he had dropped from weighing 81 kilos to just 37, with a diagnosis of thyroid cancer and hepatitis B, and with reports of solitary confinement, beatings, and systematic medical neglect.
"They were very hard, very hard for me. I have gone through a number of things with conviction in my principles and my beliefs, several punishment cells, which were quite a few, an average of 11 or 12 punishment cells, and a lot of physical and verbal abuse," said Díaz Rodríguez himself after his release.
More than a month after being released from prison, his situation remained critical: without stable housing, unable to work, and under constant surveillance.
"I left under extreme conditions. I have to pay rent, I can't find a job, the State Security is after me, I have fallen ill, I left with cancer," Alexander explained in a video released in May.
The visit this Monday marks an escalation in Washington's diplomatic commitment to his case, which began when Hammer called him on April 24 after seeing the shocking images published on the front page of Spain's ABC newspaper, which showed him in a skeletal state.
On that occasion, the Embassy stated: "What this man has suffered is inexplicable. The United States will continue to insist that everyone who remains unjustly imprisoned be released."
The case of Díaz Rodríguez has become a symbol of the treatment that the Cuban regime gives to the political prisoners of 11J, whose protests were the largest popular demonstrations in Cuba in decades.
As of February 2026, the organization Prisoners Defenders documented 1,214 political prisoners in Cuba, while President Miguel Díaz-Canel denied the existence of political prisoners on the island in an interview with NBC.
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