MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban political prisoner and participant in the protests of July 11, 2021 Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas died this Saturday in prison Eastern Combinein Havana, where he was serving a six-year prison sentence, according to reported the human rights group Justicia 11J after speaking with the mother of the deceased.
Guillén Esplugas, promoter of Cuba Decide and member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), would have received a beating in a punishment cell after being captured after an escape attempt, according to other sources consulted by Justicia 11J.
His cousin, Yan Franco, shared on his Facebook profile that the official version states that Guillén Esplugas “hanged himself.” However, Franco denounced that his cousin “refused the multiple proposals to work for State Security and that caused the altercation this Saturday, which ended up costing him his life.”
Family members insist that the mark on his neck “is not from a sheet, it is from a guards’ belt,” which casts doubt on the official version of his death.
In April, Guillén Esplugas told the Cuban Prison Documentation Center that he was being held alongside common prisoners convicted of violent crimes. He also denounced the unsanitary conditions of the prison, affected by infestations of bedbugs and rats, in addition to poor nutrition and the jailers’ refusal to provide medical assistance and medications necessary to treat the scabies and other skin problems he suffered from.
Justice 11J reported that this would be the third verified death in prison of a protester of the social outbreak of July 2021. Likewise, it would become the 72nd death in prison registered by the Cuban Prison Documentation Center since 2023.
According to a study by said center, at least 32 inmates lost their lives due to negligence or lack of medical care, while another nine took their lives in prisons of the Cuban regime between March 2023 and June 2024.
The institution pointed out that in the 16 months covered by its study, it collected 2,395 events that show the humiliations suffered by Cubans deprived of liberty. “Although it is worth clarifying that the lack of direct access to prisons means that these figures must be considered an under-record of repressive incidents and violations of human rights that occurred inside Cuban penitentiary centers,” the report stated.
The study detailed that, of that total, 1,805 were events of harassment and repression, including beatings, isolation in punishment cells, torture, sexual abuse, withdrawal of benefits and denial of rights such as visits, telephone calls and access to the sun.
The prison with the highest number of complaints about repressive events was the Combinado del Este, where Guillén Esplugas died, with 315 reports between March 2023 and June 2024.
“The most recurrent vulnerability among victims is that of being a political prisoner,” the organization emphasized. “Although in general all prisoners in Cuba suffer in one way or another harassment and repression by the authorities, these events are more visible in the case of political prisoners, who denounce them more through the media, organizations opposition and human rights.”
