Havana Cuba. – From the Valle Grande prisonwest of Havana, the political prisoner Walfrido Piloto Rodríguez denounces the threats and arbitrariness perpetrated against him by the penitentiary authorities of that facility.
The opponent told CubaNet that on May 4, the date on which the family visit was scheduled, the prison authorities did not let her sister in with the excuse that she did not have an up-to-date vaccination card. The document —he clarifies— has never been a requirement to let relatives pass. Nor had they been warned that they would have to present it this time.
The inmate’s sister asked to speak with the head of the unit, Major Ortiz, but no matter how much the soldier argued, he did not receive her. She was also not attended by the “re-educator” officer, with whom she also demanded an interview. They only let his elderly father (over 70 years old) through, who with great difficulty had to carry —without help— the heavy provisions along the way to the place where the packages are inspected.
Walfrido Piloto adds that at the end of the visit they did not allow him to keep the food that was not consumed (such as a bottle of mango juice and another of guava, four guava candy bars, rice and meat). These are provisions that inmates usually keep at the end of the family gathering.
It’s not the first time…
Piloto Rodríguez points out that last week a prison official had confronted him about the complaint he had made the previous week. He adds that the soldier threatened him that they would not let him attend the dining room, but that they would take his food to the detachment, they would take him to the medical post in handcuffs and, in addition, they would suspend his right to telephone for two months, threats that have not materialized , for now.
Walfrido Piloto Rodríguez, 54, is being held prisoner on this occasion as punishment for having participated in the popular outburst of the July 11, 2021.
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