The Cuban poet and improviser Juan Carlos García Guridi published a poem titled "Without More Party" on his Facebook profile this Sunday, where he calls for justice for independent writer and journalist José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez, a political prisoner held at La Pendiente prison in Santa Clara.
The composition, structured as a short sonnet, condenses in fourteen verses the indignation that the case has sparked among writers, activists, and human rights organizations: "Barrenechea / is in prison, / what a situation / more sad and ugly! / If God plans / his acquittal, / who without reason / sabotages it? / Shout his name / for he is a man / of high caliber. / With no other party / than having been born / to be free."
The poem arrives days after the People's Supreme Court upheld the six-year sentence against Barrenechea, closing the last ordinary legal avenue available for his defense.
The origin of the case dates back to November 2024, when residents of Encrucijada, Villa Clara, took to the streets banging pots and pans after more than 48 hours without electricity. Barrenechea, a contributor to the independent media outlet 14ymedio, was arrested following the protest; Cubalex documented at least nine arbitrary arrests related to that demonstration.
In January 2026, the Provincial People's Court of Villa Clara sentenced six individuals to a total of 34 years of imprisonment (some without confinement) for the events in Encrucijada, with six years for Barrenechea under the charge of "public disorder." On July 28, 2026, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal for cassation and also upheld the sentences of three other protesters.
The court argued that the protest "exceeded constitutional protection by generating loud noises with metal objects and obstructing pedestrian and vehicle passage." Cubalex described this reasoning as aberrant and pointed out that it contradicts General Comment No. 37 of the UN Human Rights Committee, which states that "the temporary disruption of traffic, noise, or chanting does not negate the peaceful nature of a protest."
The human dimension of the case adds a layer of cruelty that is hard to ignore. While Barrenechea was in detention, his mother, Zoila Esther Chávez Pérez, 84 years old, was dying from metastatic cancer. Authorities denied humanitarian permits; among activists, a phrase attributed to a prison official circulated: “The son will see his mother when she dies.”
Zoila Esther died on May 4, 2025 without being able to see her son, and from prison, Barrenechea wrote a heartbreaking letter about it in which he expressed: "The fault is mine. Because knowing the country in which I had to live, I committed the grave crime of joining my neighbors in the civic demand for electricity."
The poem by García Guridi is not an isolated gesture. Throughout 2026, the author —born in Batabanó, Mayabeque, in 1968— has published a series of compositions for social denunciation that have garnered significant attention, including a décima about the accumulation of garbage in Bejucal and the poem "Catarsis," in which he wrote: "Enduring in silence / is not worthy of a medal: / A poet when silent / dies but from silence."
The Barrenechea case has garnered the rejection of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Human Rights Foundation, CIVICUS, and Prisoners Defenders, all of whom have demanded his immediate release. Cubalex summarized it clearly: "Peacefully protesting is not a crime. Therefore, we reiterate our demand for the immediate and unconditional release of José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez and all individuals imprisoned in Cuba for exercising their rights."
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