11J protesters in Valle Grande declare a hunger strike

HAVANA, Cuba.- The 11J protesters Walfrido Rodríguez Piloto and José Eduardo Jardines Rodríguez have been on a hunger strike since Wednesday, May 11, at the Valle Grande prison, located west of the Cuban capital, in protest against the convictions received in retaliation for their participation in the popular uprising of July 11, 2021.

Both were tried along with three other 11J protesters on April 18 of this year in the Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre, located in Carmen number 501 between Juan Delgado and Goicuría, in La Víbora.

José Eduardo Jardines Rodríguez faced a prosecutor’s request for 15 years of deprivation of liberty and finally received a joint sentence of seven years in prison for the alleged crimes of public disorder, contempt and attack.

In the case of the peaceful opponent, former political prisoner and human rights activist Walfrido Rodríguez Piloto, on the other hand, the Prosecutor’s Office demanded nine years in prison and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for public disorder and contempt.

The other 11J protesters tried together with them are Richard Echevarría López (sentenced to 11 years in prison), Rogelián Hernández Zulueta (sentenced to nine years in prison) and Adonis Garvizo Otero (sentenced to nine years), all residents of El Palenque, in the municipality of La Lisa.

The source itself adds (confidential to avoid reprisals) that as a result of the strike both protesters were isolated in cells. In the same way, it expands that as part of the protest the strikers took off their inmate uniform.

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