In addition to asthma, the political prisoner also suffers from ulcers, pancreatitis, hypertension and hemorrhoids.
HAVANA, Cuba. – The opponent, activist and 11J protester Walfrido Rodríguez Piloto was denied medical attention at the Cotorro Youth Prison (Ivanov) as retaliation for not wearing the inmate uniform, according to what he himself reported by telephone last Tuesday the 2nd.
According to the peaceful opponent, on Wednesday, November 26, he suffered an asthma attack. When requesting health care, the group leader, a soldier named Iván Rosales Pupo, told him that “you could very well die in the detachment,” because by order of the head of Internal Order, officer Sandy Gómez Miller, Rodríguez Piloto did not have the right to medical assistance for not wearing a prisoner’s uniform.
However, the political prisoner assured, his prison record includes a medical certificate for severe dermatitis issued by dermatologists in the prison system, accompanied by the corresponding authorization to wear cotton clothing (as long as it is white) instead of the uniform, which is made of polyester.
Rodríguez Piloto also commented that he was transferred to that most rigorous penitentiary center on November 2 of this year. According to him, in addition to asthma he also suffers from ulcers, pancreatitis, hypertension and hemorrhoids.
The human rights activist, 57 years old, is self-employed and a resident of the El Palenque neighborhood, in the La Lisa municipality. He has been in prison since July 11, 2021 as retaliation for having taken part in the peaceful protests that took place that day in his municipality and in many other Cuban towns.
The trial against him resulted in a sentence of 10 years in prison for the crimes of “public disorder” and “contempt.”
Throughout his captivity, Rodríguez Piloto, who has been imprisoned before, also on previous occasions, has been a victim of punishments that constitute violations of both human rights and Mandela Rulesrelating to the rights of people deprived of liberty.
Rodríguez Piloto appears registered in the database of the non-governmental organization Prisoners Defenders, an international group based in Madrid, Spainand dedicated to the defense of human rights, especially in the case of political prisoners.
