The Cuban political prisoner Yasser Fernando Rodríguez González, 42 years old, has been on a hunger strike for seven days and has been moved to a punishment cell in the Augusto César Sandino Penitentiary in Pinar del Río, where his life is in imminent danger, according to an urgent alert released this Thursday by the outlet Brito News.
The complaint states that Rodríguez González suffers from severe hepatitis and does not receive medical treatment, medication, or adequate nutrition, which critically worsens his condition.
Brito News demanded "immediate proof of life, urgent medical attention, access to the medications he needs, and an end to torture, mistreatment, and any other violation of his fundamental rights."
Before the recent complaint, Rodríguez González already displayed significant physical deterioration, according to images released by that outlet, which were taken in 2025, as CiberCuba was able to confirm. The photographs reveal a devastating contrast between his appearance — a gaunt face, severe weight loss, and loss of teeth — and how he looked at the time of his arrest in November 2020.
Rodríguez González has begun a hunger strike in protest against the alleged mistreatment he is suffering under the orders of First Lieutenant Luis Enrique Polueda Camejo, according to the initial report from Brito News.
The conditions described from that prison are extreme. In May, he alerted Martí Noticias about the food situation: "They give us 10 to 20 grams of rice. In the morning, breakfast consists of a small piece of bread the size of a coin and a little bit of sugar-free soda."
He also described the main meal as "picadillo that is watery, pasta with worms, and broth made with the water from the root vegetables," and reported an outbreak of illness among more than 200 inmates at the prison.
Human rights organizations report malnutrition, circulatory problems, gallbladder stones, and hepatitis in his medical history, according to the profile of Rodríguez González on Prisoners Defenders.
The prisoner was arrested on November 25, 2020, in the Los Sitios neighborhood of Havana, after publishing a video on Facebook in which he called on Cubans to unite against the dictatorship and to put up opposition posters in their homes. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for "acts against state security" and "incitement to rebellion".
Since then, he has been transferred to at least three prisons and has accumulated a documented history of retaliation. In August 2021, he was placed in solitary confinement in the Combinado del Este and stripped of all his belongings. In March 2022, at the Valle Grande prison, the head of internal security, Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, beat him and threatened to "make him disappear" for informing the independent press.
Brito News concluded its alert this Thursday with a direct warning: "Silence also has consequences. The life of Yasser Fernando Rodríguez González must be protected."
The case is situated within a context of increasing repression. Prisoners Defenders documented a record of 1,306 political prisoners in Cuba at the end of June, with 264 new political detainees between July 2025 and June of this year, and a total of 2,112 individuals incarcerated since July 11, 2021.
The organization has also documented that the daily caloric intake in the Cuban penitentiary system ranges between 250 and 353 calories, compared to the 2,000-2,500 calories needed by an adult.
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