“I am a warrior,” opposition member Sandalio Mejías Zulueta, a member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), said with difficulty after being released from prison on May 14 on extra-penal leave. in a short video published by the organization, the activist almost burst into tears recounting the torture he was subjected to by his jailers during the three years he was detained.
Mejías, also a promoter of the Cuba Decide citizen movement, left prison with a notable deterioration in his health and a speech disorder. The opposition leader denounced that in prison he suffered ischemia (decreased blood supply) in his right arm and leg, but the Cuban regime denied him medication to treat his ailments.
The Government granted him a one-year extra-penal license, he said. Despite his difficulties in expressing himself, the activist stated that “the freedom of Cuba has to come, whether they want it or not.”
The Ministry of the Interior detained the activist on January 13, 2020 in a park in Old Havana. Seven days later, he was sentenced to one year in prison on summary trial for a common crime. Four months later, he received probation, but the order was revoked and he had to remain in prison.
Mejías, also a promoter of the Cuba Decide citizen movement, left prison with a notable deterioration in his state of health and a speech disorder
Before his imprisonment, Mejía had been the victim of harassment on several occasions by the authorities. In September 2019, he was arrested to prevent him from participating in a peaceful march, and in October of that year he was also arrested during a demonstration in favor of political prisoners.
In a publication On May 16, the Complaints Center of the Foundation for Pan American Democracy (FDP) recalled that, according to a report from March 2021, the activist did not receive medical attention after suffering facial paralysis while incarcerated.
The Foundation urged the Government to stop the mistreatment against the activist, as well as the rest of the Cuban political prisoners, and considered that the deprivation of medical attention is a “flagrant violation” of their human rights.
“We call on the international community, human rights defenders and relevant organizations to join us in this urgent call and take concrete measures to guarantee the freedom and well-being of Sandalio Mejías Zulueta, and all those who suffer repression in Cuba,” he said.
Mejías is one of the hundreds of political prisoners of the regime, along with other dissidents such as José Daniel Ferrer, leader of Unpacu, whom the authorities have beaten, tortured and locked up naked in a dungeon in the jail where they are keeping him, according to complaints of their relatives.
Amnesty International denounced this week that in the island’s prisons there are still there are 768 political prisonersof the 1,812 people who were arrested for demonstrating against the government after the massive protests of July 11, 2021. This figure exceeds 1,000 when adding the dozens of detainees in last year’s protests.
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