The political prisoner Marcos de la Luz Caballero Granados reported that he has been working in agricultural tasks for over five months at prisoner camp number 16, near the El Pitirre penitentiary, in the Havana municipality of San Miguel del Padrón, without having received any salary.
He declared this over the phone on October 7, according to a report by CubaNet published this Wednesday and written by journalist Gladys Linares.
Caballero Granados was transferred to Camp 16 on March 26, 2026, coming from the Los Caneyes camp in Villa Clara. Since April 21, he has been working as an agricultural worker in the organic farm at the site, where bananas, beans, cucumbers, cassava, and avocado are cultivated, during shifts that run from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. without a snack break.
According to his testimony, the salary for the first two months of work was just over 2,000 Cuban pesos, and then it rose to around 3,000 pesos per month. However, he claimed that he has not received any payment since he started working at that center. There is no independent verification of these claims nor any official response regarding the matter.
The prisoner emphasized that nearly all the other inmates are in the same situation of non-payment, but refusing to work brings reprisals: losing the monthly pass, being transferred to a detachment where, he claimed, drugs are prevalent, or even being placed in a maximum security regime.
Regarding the food conditions, Caballero Granados described a lunch consisting of about 80 grams of rice accompanied by a dough that seems to be made from wheat flour mixed with water, and as a drink, diluted jam in water. He noted that sometimes the food arrives in poor condition, causing stomach discomfort that the military attributes to some virus.
Regarding breakfast, the inmate reported: "They have been serving bread for two days (which is brought in from external bakeries), but since they can hardly ever bake bread due to the lack of electricity, what they serve the most is a loaf that feels like a rock."
Caballero Granados stated in his testimony that the crops from the organopónico—cucumbers, beans, avocados—are reserved for the military, and that prisoners are prohibited from taking any fruit or vegetable, under the threat of being prosecuted for theft. The guards search them both when they leave the camp and when they return from work.
This complaint comes weeks after the prisoner was involved in another protest: on August 6, 2026, he declared a hunger and thirst strike in response to a new denial of parole and the conditions of the camp itself, as reported by his mother, Rosa Granados Linares.
Caballero Granados was arrested on February 11, 2020, at the age of 19, accused of writing posters against the Cuban government demanding "milk for children." He was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for charges that include "continuing enemy propaganda" and "continuing disobedience." His case is registered in the database of Prisoners Defenders, a non-governmental organization based in Madrid dedicated to the defense of individuals held for political reasons.
The Cuban Prison Documentation Center documented 93 events related to individuals deprived of liberty during September 2026, of which 79 involved violations of rights. Among the most common categories were 19 reports related to food.
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