Félix Navarro Rodríguez: a life dedicated to the freedom of Cuba

The most universal of Cubans, José Martí, said: "To honor is to be honored." Today, I want to honor in this column for CiberCuba a true Cuban hero. Today, the National Endowment for Democracy honors me by inviting me to accept the 2026 Democracy Award on behalf of my brother Félix Navarro.

I have a rule of not fully trusting anyone with whom I haven't lived or seen react to various situations and under intense pressure. I never believe in the "heroes" created by this or that media outlet or institution. Like Thomas Aquinas, I believe in what I see, verify, or confirm.

For this reason, I believe, or rather, I am certain, that the four-time prisoner of conscience Félix Navarro Rodríguez is not only one of the most courageous and honest Cuban patriots I have ever known, but I am also sure that there is no person in Cuba, on the entire continent, and in the whole world, who deserves this Democracy Award, the Sajarov, and even the Nobel Peace Prize more than he does.

But who is Félix and why my categorical assertion? Félix Navarro Rodríguez is one of the essential names in the Cuban civic resistance of the last four decades. A teacher by profession, a peaceful opponent, a defender of human rights, and imprisoned multiple times for political reasons, his life represents the story of a man who has paid an extraordinarily high price for defending the right of Cubans to live in freedom.

Félix was born on July 10, 1953, in Perico, Matanzas province, into a farming family. For over two decades, he worked as a teacher in primary and secondary education, eventually serving as a school principal. Those familiar with his journey can better understand his political vocation stemming from that initial calling: to educate, to nurture, and to serve.

By the end of the 1980s, he began to express his disagreement with the political system imposed in Cuba more openly. He did not settle for silence. He distributed critical messages and put up posters against the regime. For this activity, he was arrested in the early 1990s, charged with "enemy propaganda," and sentenced to three years in prison. He served approximately twenty months and, in addition, lost the right to continue teaching.

But prison did not succeed in diverting him from the path he had chosen. After regaining his freedom, he remained connected to the democratic opposition. In 1999, he founded the Movement for Democracy “Pedro Luis Boitel,” named in honor of the historic opponent who died in prison after a prolonged hunger strike. From Matanzas, Félix developed an intense civic work centered on citizen organization, the denunciation of human rights violations, and the defense of a democratic transition.

On March 18, 2003, he was arrested again during that large repressive operation that went down in history as the Black Spring of Cuba. Within a few weeks, 75 independent journalists, human rights defenders, and peaceful opponents were subjected to summary trials and sentenced to long prison terms.

Félix Navarro was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience, considering that he was imprisoned for peacefully exercising and defending fundamental rights.

This marked the beginning of one of the hardest periods of his life. He spent eight years in various Cuban prisons, far from his family and subjected to the conditions endured by political prisoners on the Island. Even from behind bars, he continued to protest. He participated in hunger strikes and kept denouncing the abuses of the prison system.

I spent 9 months in the provincial prison of Guantánamo, and there I learned about the respect and admiration that many had for him due to his strength and courage. There is no better place to reveal the best and worst of a human being than a prison. In jail, the masks come off, and no one can pretend for long to be a character they are not.

In 2010 and 2011, as a result of strong national and international pressure and the mediation of the Catholic Church, the regime began to release members of the Group of 75. Many were offered to leave directly for Spain.

Félix Navarro refused to accept exile as the price for his freedom and, together with his brave daughter Saily Navarro, also a prisoner of conscience (Blessed is the father of such a daughter, fortunate is the daughter of such a father), his wife, the Lady in White Sonia Álvarez, and his brothers from the "Pedro Luis Boitel" Party for Democracy, continued their civic and humanitarian activism in their province and beyond.

In the following years, he faced new arrests, surveillance, harassment, and repressive acts. However, he continued to organize and support those who demanded democracy. At one point, he also took on the presidency of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, UNPACU, because he is the brave, transparent, and generous leader that every good person wishes to have as a guide.

Then came July 11, 2021. When thousands of Cubans took to the streets in dozens of locations shouting for freedom and demanding political change, Félix once again stood with those protesting. He was arrested on July 12, 2021, and subsequently sentenced to nine years of imprisonment, accused of offenses such as public disorder, contempt, and assault. His daughter Saily was arrested the following day and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

On January 16, 2025, he was released as part of a liberation process negotiated with the mediation of the Vatican. However, that freedom turned out to be extraordinarily fragile. After months of surveillance, arrests, and pressure, on April 29, 2025, the authorities of the Cuban regime revoked his release and sent him back to prison.

Currently, at 73 years old, Félix Navarro remains incarcerated in the Agüica prison in Colón, Matanzas. Human Rights organizations have expressed serious concern for his health, his periods of isolation, and the conditions of his imprisonment. Amnesty International continues to regard him as a prisoner of conscience and demands his immediate and unconditional release.

In April 2026, reports also emerged about a severe beating sustained inside the prison, while family members and activists raised concerns about the deterioration of his physical condition.

This year, the National Endowment for Democracy, NED, selected Félix Navarro, along with Maykel Castillo Pérez, "Osorbo," and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, among the recipients of its prestigious Democracy Award 2026, recognizing their courage in defending fundamental freedoms against repression.

The biography of Félix Navarro cannot be measured solely by counting years, sentences, or imprisonments. It can be measured by the times he had the opportunity to remain silent and chose to speak. The times he could have abandoned the path and decided to continue. The times the regime tried to turn prison into a tool of submission and found before them a man willing to resist as few can.

From schoolteacher to prisoner of conscience; from the Black Spring of 2003 to the protests of July 11, 2021; from one Cuban prison to another, Félix Navarro Rodríguez has devoted a significant part of his life to an enormous cause: that Cubans may live with freedom, dignity, and well-being, freely choose our government, express our ideas without fear, and live under a state where no one is imprisoned for thinking differently.

Félix remains behind bars and barbed wire in a hellish communist prison. That is why his story cannot end with a simple biography. It must end with a demand:

Immediate and unconditional freedom for Félix Navarro Rodríguez and all Cuban political prisoners! Freedom for Cuba!