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Caridad Magdalena Castro Ruiz, mother of political prisoner Kevin Damián Frómeta Castro, made another urgent public denunciation this Wednesday, as her son has been suffering from a serious chest infection for weeks at the 1580 Prison in San Miguel del Padrón, and prison authorities have not taken action to transfer him to a hospital.
According to the mother, an ultrasound confirmed the accumulation of pus and a mass several centimeters large in Kevin's chest. The prison doctor himself warned the deputy chief of the prison, identified as Cautín, that if the delay in his transfer continues, that accumulation could turn into a tumor.
"There's no one left for me to meet with, and my son continues to have fluid in his chest and the infection spreading," wrote Caridad on Facebook, where she shares her complaints without being able to record videos or do live transmissions because she has been without electricity or internet connection for three days.
The mother reported that the head of the prison, identified as Hardy, assured her that Kevin would be transferred that same day. However, Kevin called her an hour later confirming that he was still detained in the same prison. "Hardy, head of the 1580, stated today that Kevin would be transferred. That's a lie. Kevin is still in the 1580," she claimed.
Caridad has exhausted all available institutional channels. She met with the prison chief, an officer from unit 15 and K, a citizen services officer from the prison, and Major Yasnai, head of citizen services for correctional facilities in Havana. She also submitted a document outlining her demands for immediate transfer, both at the prison and at the Citizen Services office in Plaza de la Revolución. Nothing has worked.
"This is just more of the same. They will never acknowledge any responsibility for the system they represent," he declared in a video released by the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press, which in May 2026 described the case as "deliberate medical neglect and prison retaliation."
This is not the first time the family has raised concerns about Kevin's health. In April, his mother already reported that her son had gone four months without adequate medical care and was suffering from a severe infection in his arm, with an ultrasound pending since January 2026. The untreated infection spread to his chest.
Kevin Damián Frómeta Castro was detained at the age of 19 for participating in the protests on July 11, 2021, and was sentenced to 16 years in prison for sedition in March 2022. In February 2024, he was urgently taken to Hospital La Covadonga after losing consciousness in the same prison.
Prison 1580 has a serious history. In November 2023, a political prisoner from 11J died there due to alleged medical negligence, and in August 2024, another inmate died under similar circumstances.
Penitentiary authorities have classified the hunger strikes that Kevin has undertaken to demand medical attention as "indiscipline" or "acts of resistance." His mother strongly rejects this: "The times that Kevin has been on a voluntary hunger strike have been to claim his rights, to demand medical attention, and to assert his legal rights."
Caridad warned that if her son goes on a hunger strike due to desperation again, she will stand in front of the prison. And she issued a direct warning to the authorities: "Every minute that passes with Kevin, with that infection in his chest, you are even more responsible."
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