Casla Institute requests proof of life from Cuban musician and activist Maykel Castillo Osorbo
14ymedio, Havana, June 19, 2024 — The prison authorities of the Kilo 5 y Medio prison, in Pinar del Río, Cuba, are making life impossible for political prisoners serving their sentences in this prison. According to Cubalex, Jorge Luis Rodríguez Valdés Tangallo was again denied the delivery of food, medicines and other essential items.
The legal NGO also said the activist has not been able to receive his regular visits for three months. Since Tangallo has no close relatives, Eduardo Díaz Fleitas, also an activist and former political prisoner of the Black Spring, attends these meetings, but he is repeatedly denied access to the prison.
The restriction on receiving external aid, even to cover basic needs, “shows the use of deprivation of liberty as a form of reprisal based on political motives,” Cubalex said, adding that the prisoner has even been restricted from receiving phone calls.
Since Tangallo has no close relatives, Eduardo Díaz Fleitas, also an activist and former Black Spring political prisoner, attends these meetings
Tangallo was sentenced in April 2022 to four years in prison for the crime of “contempt” and previously accused of “enemy propaganda” for painting the phrases “Díaz-Canel singao”(Díaz-Canel Motherfucker), “Abajo el comunismo”(Down with Communism), “Abajo los Castro”(Down with the Castros) and “Viva el 27 de Enero”(Long Live January 27) on the train station walls in the town of Entronque de Herradura. In Kilo 5 y Medio prison, he also faces constant threats of being transferred to a punishment cell
