HAVANA, Cuba. – Tayri Lorenzo Prado has several signs that say “Freedom for my son Andy.” Every July 11 or in moments of harassment by repressive bodies, he hangs them from the windows of his house facing the street, it is one of his ways of expressing rebellion and support for Andy Garcia Lorenzowhoever sentenced to four years in prison for participating in the protests on July 11, 2021 (11J) in Santa Clara.
Before 9/11, neither Andy nor his family were linked to the opposition to the regime, but that day, like thousands of Cubans throughout the country, the young man took to the streets to peacefully demonstrate against the dictatorship. He was violently detained even though he offered no resistance; They kept him incommunicado for about ten days. During his family’s first visit, they forced him to wear a long-sleeved sweater so that his mother would not see the bruises.
He was subjected to various forms of physical and psychological torture. In one interview with CubaNetin May 2022, when he received his first and only prison pass so far, he narrated: “Especially at the beginning they also interrogated me a lot, even at dawn, interrogations lasting up to eight hours, as if one were a terrorist. Three lieutenant colonels and two State Security majors surrounded me, with a camera, so that I could say that I regretted it and renounced what I think, but I did not accept it. “They threatened me with 20 or 30 years in prison, life imprisonment and even that they were going to shoot me in case there was a humanitarian intervention in Cuba.”
He spent days in isolation cells, sleeping on the floor, in extreme heat and subjected to constant mosquito bites, but he did not stop denouncing all this and demanding the rights of all political prisoners. He has not regretted leaving on 11J either. “How am I going to regret the proudest event of my life, of all Cubans, the happiest day in history, the day when the people rose up against the oppressor,” he declared.
His mother explained to CubaNet that the 27-year-old young man refused to carry out correctional work with imposed internment: “He said that he had no reason to work for the regime, because he considers himself innocent.” For this reason, they sent him to the El Pre prison and then to the Guamajal maximum security prison, where he is completely isolated.
Likewise, the mother reported that, as a way of expressing her disagreement with the dictatorship, Andy has carried out hunger strikes and a voluntary fast on commemorative dates.
extra-criminal license
Although he is currently stable, Tayri Lorenzo Prado expressed concern about the state of health of his son, since he has a medical condition that would prevent him from remaining in prison and that has led his family to request extra-penal leave.
The young man suffers from hypercalciuria, a disease characterized by the presence of excess calcium in the urine that can cause kidney stones, osteoporosis or, in extreme cases, kidney damage and loss of kidney function. Because of this, he requires a strict diet that he has not been able to have in prison.
“They denied him the extra-penal license even though the MININT medical commission requested it,” says Lorenzo Prado.
Andy García Lorenzo has approximately nine months left to serve his sentence, but he should never have been imprisoned. “He and all the political prisoners are innocent,” says the mother.
A separated family
Since Andy García Lorenzo was imprisoned, his family has been among the most vocal in demanding his freedom and that of all political prisoners. For this reason, they have been victims of acts of repudiation, pressure and threats from State Security and even violent attacks.
In February 2022, Andy’s father, Nedel García Pacheco, was stabbed by a subject who provoked him and called the young man a “delinquent.” Tayri has also suffered interference from State Security in her work as a missionary in a Baptist Church.
The family has been threatened with the fabrication of common crimes and with sending Andy to another province if he continues to denounce human rights violations or demand the freedom of political prisoners.
In the last three years, in the days before and during the commemorations of 11J, the mother says, the political police have mobilized their agents to monitor her home. “But that doesn’t worry us, they aren’t going to intimidate us,” he says.
Roxana García Lorenzo, Andy’s sister, and the family of her husband, Jonatan López, after months of harassment and arrests arbitrary, were forced into exile in Germany due to threats of imprisonment by the political police. Tayri’s youngest son, Alberto, when he was barely 18 years old, emigrated to the United States to escape harassment.
“We are not going to remain silent,” says Tayri. “We continue to raise our voices for our son and we will be denouncing any injustice that occurs with him,” he concluded.
