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Aníbal Yaciel Palau Jacinto, 30 years old, regained his freedom on the night of Saturday after fully serving a five-year sentence imposed for his participation in the July 11, 2021 protests in Güines, Mayabeque province.
Her mother, Layda Yirkis Jacinto Abad, confirmed the young man's return home, though not without first enduring over 24 hours of distress not knowing her son's whereabouts.
On July 10, a day before the official end of the sentence, authorities transferred Palau Jacinto from Melena II prison to Ganusa prison without notifying the family. State Security justified the transfer by claiming it was to "protect him" from alleged remarks made by other inmates at Melena II.
Once in Ganusa, the young man went on a hunger strike inside a solitary confinement cell, barefoot and in his underwear, to protest his arbitrary detention.
The authorities also cited an alleged "pending case" in the computer system, linked to an incident from November 2025, to justify the delay in his release. However, the defense attorney and the Military Prosecutor's Office had determined in February 2026 that this case was closed and there were no charges against the protester.
The incident in November 2025 began when Palau Jacinto reported the loss of his food during a search. In response, the Chief of Internal Order of Melena II, an officer nicknamed "Rudy," physically assaulted him. The retaliation included his confinement in a sealed isolation cell without ventilation, which triggered a prolonged hunger strike.
It was not the first time the regime subjected him to degrading conditions. In 2023, he remained barefoot for several days and gave up his phone calls when the authorities attempted to condition that right on him abandoning his protest stance. In February 2024, he was placed in a punishment cell without any disciplinary infraction, as acknowledged by the prison guards themselves in leaked calls from within.
Palau Jacinto was 25 years old when he was arrested in Güines on July 12, 2021. The Prosecutor's Office initially requested 13 years of imprisonment for the crimes of assault, public disorder, and burglary. The final sentence was set at five years, which he served in the prisons of Quivicán and Melena II.
Over that time, his health deteriorated progressively. He suffers from gastritis, vascular migraine headache, circulatory disorders, vision loss, and chronic renal complications, a direct consequence of hunger strikes and the lack of adequate medical attention.
Her release occurs on the fifth anniversary of 11J, at a time when the repression shows no signs of easing. According to Prisoners Defenders, Cuba reached a historic record of 1,306 political prisoners as of July 9, 2026, while at least 338 individuals remain incarcerated specifically for their participation in those protests.
The case of Palau Jacinto contrasts with that of artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, another prisoner from the 11J whose five-year sentence ended on July 9, 2026, and who, unlike Palau, remains missing under state custody, a situation that Amnesty International has denounced as enforced disappearance.
The massive pardon of April 2026, which freed more than 2,010 inmates, explicitly excluded those convicted of "offenses against authority," the category under which the protesters of 11J were prosecuted, thus forcing Palau Jacinto to serve every day of his sentence behind bars.
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