Ángel Jesús Véliz Marcano celebrates his 32nd birthday this Monday behind bars, in the Kilo 9 prison in Camagüey, marking his sixth consecutive birthday as a political prisoner of the Cuban regime.
Arrested on July 18, 2021, a week after participating in the protests on July 11 in Camagüey, he was sentenced to six years of imprisonment on charges of assault and public disorder.
From exile in the United States, his mother, Ailéx Marcano Fabelo, expressed her pain mixed with gratitude: "Today, August 24, my son turns 32 years old, 32 years of life, for which I give endless thanks to God."
The woman did not hide the bitterness that the date brings her: "It is his sixth birthday in prison, in a dungeon of the dictatorship in Cuba," she lamented in statements to Martí Noticias.
According to Marcano Fabelo, his son's sentence is set to expire in about nine months, although he rejects the idea that he should have to wait for that period: "He is only nine months away from the end of that unjust sentence. I'm not saying he should serve it, because he owes nothing to the dictatorship."
For the mother, her son committed no crime: "He exercised the right that every man has to express with his voice his desires for freedom, progress, and to live in a land with dignity."
The documented history of abuse against Véliz Marcano is extensive. In 2022, he spent more than 70 days in a solitary confinement cell with the mattress removed during the day and belongings confiscated. In January 2023, he was transferred to a module with high-risk inmates and hospitalized for scabies. He also went on hunger strikes in May 2022 and October 2024.
The organization Cubalex documented that the prison authorities have denied benefits such as progression to a less severe regime and parole, decisions they attribute to political motivations.
The Republican senator from Florida Rick Scott recently publicly denounced the tortures that the young man has suffered: “Ángel has endured torture, isolation, and cruel treatment simply for defending freedom and shouting Homeland and Life during the movement of July 11.”
On July 30th, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures in favor of Véliz Marcano and fellow political prisoner Yasmany Porra Pérez, determining that their lives, integrity, and health face a risk of irreparable harm. The organization demanded that the Cuban regime ensure humane detention conditions, specialized medical care, quality food, and access to drinking water.
Your case falls within a broader context of systematic repression: according to Justicia 11J, in April 2026 there were 775 political prisoners in Cuba, of which 338 were sentenced due to the protests of July 11th.
Marcano Fabelo does not lose hope of embracing his son in freedom: "We believe in God so much that we know Ángel Jesús will be free very soon."
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