Officials from the United States Embassy in Cuba traveled this Wednesday to Perico, Matanzas, to meet with Sonia Álvarez Campillo, the wife of political prisoner Félix Navarro Rodríguez and mother of Saylí Navarro Álvarez, who is also incarcerated, in a visit that the diplomatic mission shared on its official X account with the message "We remain concerned for them."
In the meeting, activists Iván Hernández Carrillo and Asunción Carrillo Hernández also participated, and the publication included the hashtag #LiberenTodos, describing the father and daughter as "unjustly imprisoned."
The visit comes at a time of particular concern regarding the health of Félix Navarro, who at the time of the meeting had been isolated in the infirmary for more than 66 days at the Agüica prison in Colón, Matanzas.
The historical opposition figure and founder of the Party for Democracy, Pedro Luis Boitel, suffers from diabetes, and his wife has publicly stated that he does not receive regular glucose checks or adequate medical follow-up.
At the beginning of the year, he underwent tests for possible symptoms of tuberculosis, without the family receiving timely information about the results.
In April 2026, Félix was beaten inside the prison and transferred to a solitary confinement cell, according to documented reports from that time.
Her daughter Saylí, who is serving an eight-year sentence in the women's prison La Bellotex —also in Matanzas—, was sanctioned disciplinarily in May after publicly reporting that beating.
Both were detained on July 12, 2021, in Perico when they went to a police station to inquire about activists arrested following the protests on July 11. They were sentenced in March 2022 to nine and eight years in prison, respectively.
The diplomatic mission in Matanzas also included a meeting with historian Alina Bárbara López Hernández, as part of the direct visit policy to the families of prisoners and activists that the Embassy has maintained throughout 2026, with prior contacts with the Navarro family in February.
The case of the Navarro family is gathering increased international attention. A day before the visit, Amnesty International once again demanded their immediate and unconditional release, two years after declaring them prisoners of conscience along with Roberto Pérez Fonseca.
In September, the European Parliament passed a resolution demanding their freedom and linking the request to the possible suspension of the political dialogue agreement between the European Union and Cuba. That same month, they were nominated for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
"They remain unjustly imprisoned and must be released immediately and unconditionally," stated Ana Piquer, director of Amnesty International for the Americas, in October 2026.
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