Sissi Abascal Zamora, the young opposition member regarded as the youngest Dama de Blanco in Cuba, returned this Thursday in spirit to the place where she spent more than four years imprisoned for political reasons: the women's prison La Bellotex in Matanzas.
From exile, Abascal shared on his social media photographs of the prison and turned the memory of his confinement into a plea for those who still remain behind those bars, particularly Sayli Navarro Álvarez, a political prisoner from the 11J and a former prison mate.
"These photographs are not just images of a prison. For me, each wall, each bar, and every corner represents more than four years of my life that I spent locked up there," wrote the 27-year-old activist.
Abascal arrived in Miami in May 2026, after being released from prison and leaving Cuba in a forced exile managed by the Legal Rescue Foundation and the United States Department of State.
However, her publication is not limited to recalling what she experienced at La Bellotex. The young woman directed attention towards Navarro, with whom she shared the confinement and who is still serving his sentence in the same prison.
"Sayli Navarro continues to be in that same prison, a woman I have known for years and with whom I shared a prison. I was able to go into exile. She still remains there, deprived of her freedom," he denounced.
Sayli Navarro was arrested on July 12, 2021 in Perico, Matanzas, when she went to a police station to inquire about protesters who had been detained following the historic anti-government protests of July 11.
In March 2022, she was
His case also presents a crucial difference compared to that of Abascal. Navarro has repeatedly rejected the offers of exile proposed by the regime as a way to leave prison and has expressed his decision to remain in Cuba.
The conditions of her incarceration have become harsher in recent months. In May 2026, she was disciplined at La Bellotex, resulting in a reduction of her sentence being cut from 60 to 30 days, after publicly denouncing the beating suffered by her father, the historic opponent Félix Navarro Rodríguez, 73 years old, in Agüica prison in April.
Additionally, for 137 consecutive days, the authorities prevented her from visiting her father, even though that meeting was supposed to take place every 45 days.
Abascal is familiar with the conditions at La Bellotex. She remained there from December 2021 until her departure into exile and was classified as a "negative prisoner" for refusing to participate in mandatory political activities within the prison. The Cuban authorities also denied her access to a less severe prison regime at least seven times.
Now, far from those bars, the activist asserts that having regained freedom also entails a responsibility to those who were left behind.
"Those of us who have escaped from those prisons have the responsibility to share what we saw, to remember those who were left behind, and to demand their freedom," he stated.
Your complaint comes at a time when independent organizations continue to document a high number of political incarcerations in Cuba. According to Prisoners Defenders, as of the end of June 2026, there were 1,306 individuals deprived of liberty for political reasons on the island, including 40 minors.
For Abascal, the images of La Bellotex now represent a painful border between his new life in freedom and the reality of the woman with whom he shared prison.
"I survived those walls. Sayli is still behind them. That’s why I speak out. That’s why I denounce. That’s why I will not remain silent. Freedom for Sayli Navarro and for all political prisoners in Cuba!" he concluded.
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