HAVANA, Cuba.- From the Combinado del Este maximum rigor prison, located at kilometer 13 ½ of the Monumental road, in the Guanabacoa municipality of the island’s capital, the July 12 protester Eduardo Álvarez Rigal denounces the unjust conviction received in retaliation for participating in the protests, as well as the intransigence of the prison authorities regarding his health situation.
Eduardo Álvarez Rigal, who is 32 years old and lives in the cast The Güinerabelonging to the Arroyo Naranjo municipality, denounces that he was arrested in the early afternoon of July 21, 2021 in the surroundings of the Café Colón.
Initially he was imprisoned at the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) station in the Capri neighborhood and the next day he was transported to the Ivanov youth correctional facility, located in Cotorro. They kept him there for about three days and later took him to the Criminal Investigation and Operations Division of 100 y Aldabó until July 28, the date on which he was transferred to the Valle Grande maximum rigor prison, in La Lisa.
As he told CubaNet, he remained in La Lisa until the trial, which was held on January 17 and 18, 2022 at the Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre, located at number 501 Carmen street between Juan Delgado and Goicuría, in the Viper cast. At the conclusion of the process, the protester was sent to Combinado del Este.
Álvarez Rigal denounces that he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for the alleged crime of sedition. He also reveals that in Valle Grande he contracted COVID-19 during an outbreak of the virus in prison. He likewise states that he also contracted pneumonia in captivity.
He also indicated that he is allergic (suffers from topical dermatitis) and currently has skinned hands due to disinfecting himself with chlorine water, since the Combinado authorities do not allow him to receive the hand gel that his relatives bring him.
The protester adds that he is a babalawo (priest of the Orisha Orula in the Yoruba religion) and at the time of the arrest he worked at the Yoruba Association of Cuba, located on Prado Street, in Central Havana. He also highlights that he is the father of four minor children who depend on him.
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