Wilber Aguilar Bravo, father of the political prisoner Walnier Luis Aguilar Rivera, reported in a video posted on Facebook that his 26-year-old son is the only one still imprisoned among the 17 co-defendants in his case, while the Cuban regime intensifies harassment against the family as retaliation for publicly demanding his release.
Walnier was detained on July 20, 2021, when he was 21 years old, for participating in the protests on July 11 in the neighborhood of La Güinera, in Arroyo Naranjo.
The young man was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment for sedition—after a previous prosecution request of between 22 and 23 years was reduced on appeal—despite suffering from a borderline intellectual disability of organic origin, with a brain injury documented by a psychiatrist, psychologist, neurologist, and medical commission, a condition that the court completely disregarded.
"The 17 who were at my son's trial, I am very glad that they are now out. They should have never been imprisoned, just like my son. Walnier is still incarcerated in maximum security. Walnier is still locked up; he has spent five years locked away," the father stated in the video.
Instead of receiving any measures for flexibility, Walnier was transferred in January 2026 to the prison in Sancti Spíritus, more than 300 kilometers from his home in Havana. His father describes this transfer as an act of "cruelty," possibly in retaliation for the monthly protests that the family held in front of the previous penitentiary.
"They are moving him to Sancti Spíritus. We have to travel more than 300 kilometers to see Walnier, in a country where there is no transportation, where there is no fuel. It's just cruel," said Wilber Aguilar Bravo. The exhausting trip amounts to just two hours of visiting time.
Harassment is not limited to the prisoner. The father describes a systematic pattern of police intimidation, with patrol cars stationed outside their home every month, armed men watching him while he searches for food, and arbitrary summonses to him, his wife, and their other son.
The authorities go further. They explicitly warn the family that social media activism affects Walnier's prison benefits, using the young man's situation as leverage to silence his father.
The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights documented at least six repressive acts against Wilber Aguilar Bravo just in 2026, including summons for interrogations, and an incident in July where agents prevented him from leaving his own home.
The case of Walnier has international support
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures in favor of Walnier in July 2022 and, in January 2025, extended that protection to his father and family through Resolution 9/2025, having identified severity, urgency, and risk of irreparable harm.
The United States Embassy in Cuba publicly denounced the abuses against Walnier in November 2025 and demanded his immediate release. Prisoners Defenders and the OCDH are actively campaigning on his behalf.
At the end of July 2026, Prisoners Defenders recorded 1,306 political prisoners in Cuba, including 40 minors, and Walnier Luis Aguilar Rivera remained one of the most emblematic cases of the 11J due to the combination of his medical condition, the severity of the sentence, and the systematic harassment of those who have continued to demand his release.
"There is nothing more painful in this world than being unable to defend a child. The helplessness consumes you for not being able to protect a child," concluded the father of the young political prisoner.
Filed under: