Havana Cuba. – From the Combinado del Este prison of maximum rigor, Carlos Paul Michelena Valdés, protester on July 12, 2021 in The Güineradenounces the unfair conviction received, as well as the multiple threats to which he and his family members have been subjected by soldiers from that prison.
Michelena Valdés was arrested during the demonstration on July 12 in La Güinera while returning to his home in Párraga, after visiting his girlfriend in that distribution.
In a previous phone call, he highlighted that the Black Berets pounced on him and hit him on the head in such a way that he lost consciousness and came to while the wound was sutured at the Miguel Enríquez Hospital, also known as Benéfica.
Now, also by phone call from jail, the political prisoner denounced that he was convicted without evidence, only with the statement of a prosecutor who alleged that he “was in the area of the demonstration.”
Michelena Valdés also denounced that she is under threat from the prison authorities, who have warned her that if she commits any indiscipline, if she makes a complaint or even makes a comment, they will “disappear to any province” or even lock up her relatives.
He added that two months ago at the Combinado del Este he received the news of his mother’s death, and stressed that the military’s threats included imprisoning her while she was still alive, so he had to remain “calm, without doing anything or speaking any”.
Carlos Paul Michelena Valdés was tried with a group of other protesters during the week of December 20 to 26, 2021 at the Diez de Octubre Municipal Court, in a hearing riddled with human rights violations, according to testimonies from family members present. . The protester specified that at first he was accused of public disorder, a crime that was later replaced by sedition, and the final sentence received was 10 years in prison.
He also stressed that he has been imprisoned for a year “without the right to anything”, because in jail they deny him all the rights stipulated in the Jail and Prison Regulations, such as the right to work to be able to help his family financially, or the reduction of his sanction; and he pointed out that other captive protesters are in the same situation. According to him, in September some prosecutors arrived at the prison, with whom he requested to meet, but they did not allow him, despite the fact that the reason for the inspection was precisely to visit the inmates.
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