Duannis León Taboada, a political prisoner sentenced to 14 years in prison for his participation in the protests on July 11, 2021, sent a message to the Cuban people —both inside and outside the island— from the maximum-security prison Combinado del Este in Havana, through a phone call recorded by his mother and shared this Friday on social media from Berlin, Germany.
The audio was published by activist Tania Tasé: "Right now, we need to focus on the true enemy of the Cuban people. Since '59, it has been responsible for the fact that the Cuban population currently has all their needs unmet," Duannis stated during the call.
Among the most startling complaints in the message is the situation regarding water in the prison: "Here we are without water for three days. We are given one bottle of water a day. For drinking and for bathing. One bottle of water. And no one speaks, no one says anything, no one complains, no one protests."
Duannis does not attribute this silence to indifference, but to decades of indoctrination and systematic repression: "It's not a problem with the population; rather, one must notice that it has been many years of creating a stereotype within the population, combined with an explosion of fear and repression."
The young man also reported the collapse of the judicial system within the prison: “There are people who have been waiting for trial for three and four years. It’s crazy; everything is completely messed up here, mom. Everything is wrong.”
Regarding the official argument that the U.S. embargo is the cause of all the ills in the country, Duannis was straightforward: "A government that has not yet been able to seek a solution to reach an agreement with the Government of the United States to eradicate this blockade. They are unable to, because the reality is that the blockade is still in place." He pointed out that a truly capable government would have found the negotiation methods to resolve it.
The imprisoned individual also directed criticism at the Cuban government for the contradiction it incurs: it publicly acknowledges that the aim of the embargo is to generate social discontent, yet when that discontent manifests in protests, it responds with sentences of 14, 15, and 20 years in maximum-security prisons. "You are the true unjust ones, you are the ones who must take care of this people, you are the ones who must grant rights to that people," he told them.
Duannis also reported the physical assaults he has suffered inside Combinado del Este: "They put me in a sealed cell, [...] covered in blood and handcuffed. And that’s how they sprayed my face." He also reported that prison officials have threatened him with the death of his mother as a form of psychological pressure.
Despite everything, the young man declared himself free in spirit: "I thank the Cuban government for letting me spend fourteen years in prison. I thank them because what I have experienced and all the repression I have endured gave me the opportunity to be a free Cuban."
The case of Duannis is one of the most documented among the prisoners of July 11. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted him protective measures in January 2026 due to risks to his life and integrity. In February, he was placed in a punishment cell after being assaulted by an officer, and in April he was again transferred to isolation for writing slogans such as "freedom" and "justice" within the prison.
Your message arrives at a time of extreme gravity for political prisoners in Cuba: as of July 9, 2026, Prisoners Defenders documented 1,306 political prisoners in Cuba —the highest number recorded by the organization— of which more than 300 are directly linked to the protests of July 11. The pardon in April 2026 released 2,010 inmates, but expressly excluded those convicted of "crimes against authority," the category under which most protesters were prosecuted, including Duannis.
"The Cuban population urgently needs to be free, you understand me, mom," concluded the young man from his cell in the Combinado del Este.
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