The Cuban political prisoner José Ramón Solano Randiche ended his hunger strike on Friday at the Provincial Prison of Holguín, after prison authorities agreed to reduce his disciplinary sentence from six to three months, which had been imposed under maximum severity, according to a report by Martí Noticias.
The conflict erupted on July 14, when the prison administration abruptly suspended the scheduled passes for all inmates in the unit, a decision that prevented them from being with their families on the birthday of their young son.
In claiming their rights, the military leaders responded with an even harsher measure: they revoked his detention order and imposed a six-month disciplinary punishment under a more severe regime.
In response to that reprisal, Solano Randiche began a voluntary fast that lasted several weeks and severely deteriorated his health.
According to the report by the organization Cubalex on August 5, when the prisoner had been on hunger strike for 23 days, he was in a solitary confinement cell without a mattress — which was only provided to him on August 1 after family complaints — and was experiencing significant weakness and difficulty speaking, exacerbated by pre-existing conditions of asthma and allergies.
His wife, Liuba María Gallo Plácido, confirmed to Martí Noticias that the physical deterioration was extreme: Solano Randiche lost 20 kilograms during the protest, going from 81 to 60 kilos.
Following the agreement that ended the hunger strike, the prisoner was transferred to the prison known as "Cuba Sí," where he will serve his corrective measure before returning to his regular regimen.
"They asked to revoke him for six months, but they left it at three, and after those three months, he will return to the regime he was in. When he is placed back in the minimum regime, he will receive the transfer that corresponds to him," explained Gallo Plácido.
The sanction period is counted retroactively from July 16, so the inmate would have approximately two months of punishment left.
He is currently hospitalized in the medical unit of the Cuba Sí prison until he fully recovers physically.
During the strike, State Security agents took advantage of a family visit to threaten Gallo Plácido with retaliation against the prisoner for making his complaints public through Martí Noticias, dismissing the social media posts but focusing their warnings on the media impact.
Solano Randiche is serving a 13-year sentence for the crime of sedition imposed due to his participation in the protests on July 11, 2021 in Holguín.
The sentence was the result of successive reviews: the prosecution requested a 30-year sentence, he was initially sentenced to 18 years, and the figure was ultimately reduced to 13 after the appeal.
His case is not the only one in the province. Roilán Álvarez Rensoler, another political prisoner from Holguín, undertook a hunger strike lasting over 50 days between January and March 2026 which ended with a cardiac arrest and hospitalization, and in July he was reported to be on another hunger strike after being returned to the provincial prison.
According to the organization Prisoners Defenders, Cuba holds over 1,200 political prisoners in 2026, including hundreds of demonstrators from July 11, whose sentences have been described by human rights organizations as 34 times harsher than those imposed on the Moncada assailants in 1953.
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