Temporary passes are increasingly frequent in Cuban prisons due to the shortage of food, explains Martha Beatriz Roque
14ymedio, Havana, September 2, 2024 — Political prisoners Sissi Abascal and Sayli Navarro were not included in the pass received this Monday by five other women convicted of demonstrating on 11 July 2021, who are serving their sentence in La Bellotex prison, in Matanzas. The activists did not benefit from the possibility of visiting their homes for four days, denounces oppositionist Martha Beatriz Roque.
“Today they gave a pass to five of the women convicted on 11J, but two of them were excluded,” the director of the Cuban Center for Human Rights told 14ymedio. “They have never been given a pass, so it is an absolutely discriminatory exclusion” against Abascal and Navarro, who are also part of the Ladies in White Movement.
The reasons for not being on the list of prisoners who can spend a few days in their homes, in this case from today until Thursday, point to the activism of both women and their membership in several dissident organizations. Also, their constant denunciations and statements from prison could have contributed to not being granted that benefit. Last July, the two opponents held a fast in commemoration of the third anniversary of the 11J demonstrations.
“They have never been given a pass, so it is an absolutely discriminatory exclusion”
“The events of 11 July 2021 left a trail of those who were arrested, beaten and finally sentenced to years in prison,” Sayli Navarro said in an audio sent to Martí Noticias. The daughter of political prisoner Félix Navarro was sentenced to eight years of deprivation of liberty for the alleged crimes of attack and public disorder. Abascal, for her part, is serving a six-year sentence.
Roque adds that “temporary passes have become increasingly
