Sissi Abascal Zamora, regarded as the youngest Lady in White in Cuba, commemorated this Saturday the fifth anniversary of the protests on July 11, 2021 from Miami, where she lives in exile after nearly five years in prison for participating in those demonstrations.
Abascal raised his voice on social media to recall the day that led to his imprisonment and changed his life as an activist.
"Cuba hurts me much more than it did four years ago," she declared upon her arrival in exile, and promised to continue denouncing the situation of political prisoners who remain on the island.
The young woman, 27 years old, was arrested on November 3, 2021, for participating in the protests of July 11 in Carlos Rojas, Jovellanos, Matanzas, and sentenced to six years in prison on charges of public disorder, contempt, and assault.
His sentence, which began on December 27, 2021, was set to last until November 2027.
During his imprisonment, the regime denied him a change in prison conditions or parole on at least seven occasions.
In September 2025, the organization Cubalex reported that this benefit had been denied for the seventh time, and in November of that same year, parole was once again denied.
In October 2025, the Cuban State Security offered him the chance to go into exile for health reasons, but with one condition: his mother, Annia Zamora —also a Lady in White— had to leave Cuba first.
On May 14, 2026, Abascal arrived in Miami alongside her mother and other family members, thanks to a humanitarian visa facilitated by the Legal Rescue Foundation and granted by the U.S. Department of State.
Cubalex described its departure as "liberty conditioned to exile," a mechanism that the regime commonly uses to banish opponents without acknowledging their innocence or granting internal penitentiary benefits.
The United States Embassy in Havana described the departure as "painful" due to being a forced exile, while the Trump administration called Abascal's detention "unjust" and reaffirmed its commitment to the release of all Cuban political prisoners.
This fifth anniversary of 11J occurs within a context of intense international pressure. In the days leading up to it, never-before-seen videos of the protests and repression of 2021 were released, global demonstrations were called in solidarity with political prisoners, and a senator recommended that the regime release the detainees before the date arrived.
The protests on July 11, 2021, were the largest popular demonstrations against the Cuban dictatorship in over six decades. Thousands of people took to the streets in dozens of cities across the island with slogans such as "Homeland and Life," "Freedom," "Down with the dictatorship," and "Get out." The regime responded with mass repression: according to the Cuban Human Rights Organization (OCDH), nearly 3,000 repressive actions were documented in the days following.
Abascal, who still had about 14 months left of his sentence when he left Cuba, has made it clear that exile will not silence his voice: "I never want to return to that island, but even though I live far away, I will continue to be Cuban, and I will continue to feel the pain of my people."
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