Yudinela Castro Pérez, mother of the 18-year-old Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro, one of the 33 prosecuted this week in the Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre for his participation in the protests of July 11, answers this Wednesday every call that comes to his phone. “I am here to denounce what is happening,” she assures 14ymedio.
The young man faces a 23-year-old prosecutor petition for the crime of sedition, one of the highest of the group that demonstrated in the vicinity of the Toyo corner in Havana and whose process began on Monday. “I am going to continue fighting for their freedom, whatever it takes,” the mother clarifies. This Wednesday he had his phone on, she says, because he did not feel well – he has cancer – and he could not go to court. On Thursday he will return to court.
On Monday she was in the nearby Juan Delgado Park along with other mothers, in a peaceful demonstration: “We made a prayer, several prayers holding hands for our children.”
“Agent Denis told me that I was relating to counterrevolutionary and terrorist people”
the day ended with the violent arrest of Castro and 14 others, between relatives of the accused and activists who came to the scene to support them. “Around four in the afternoon, we saw that the trucks in which they were going to take the boys approached the court. Then a bus arrived in which they took those of us who were in the park detained.”
Some of them were taken to Villa Marista, she says, and others, like herself, to the San Miguel del Padrón police unit. “We had to wait until 11 at night for the State Security agents to arrive to interrogate us. One of them, agent Denis, told me that I was relating to counterrevolutionaries and terrorists,” she details.
The mother assures that she could not access the room last Monday “due to pressure from State Security”, although instead it was the father (only one relative per accused is allowed to attend, something denounced by organizations of society inside and outside the Island), and that this Tuesday, finally, he was present.
“Agent Denis also threatened to send my son to a prison in Guantanamo, far from Havana when he was sentenced. He told me that if I kept claiming and protesting, that was what would happen, so I replied that to any place they sent him outside of Pinar del Río, Santiago de Cuba or Isla de la Juventud, I was going to go there too. If I have to go live in Guantánamo, I’m going. I’m never going to abandon my son,” Castro cries.
“The testimonies of the policemen were very incoherent, even one of the criminal investigation instructors who spoke was scolded by the secretary of the room for his despotic attitude”
Regarding the hearing, he reports that on Monday the testimonies of the accused were presented and on Tuesday, the statements of the police officers who participated in the repression of the protests that Sunday. “The testimonies of the police officers were very incoherent, even one of the criminal investigation instructors who spoke was scolded by the secretary of the courtroom for his despotic attitude,” he says, and continues: “The youth’s defense attorneys They asked this officer many questions to the point that he decided to leave the room and not continue testifying”.
Although Yudinela Castro is a resident of the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, the events for which her son is being tried are related to the Santos Suárez neighborhood, in Diez de Octubre, where the young man’s father resides, with whom he spent several days at month, especially when the mother’s health suffered a relapse of her oncological condition.
“I know almost all of these boys because they are my son’s friends since they were little,” he says. “They are good boys and now they are in the Prison for Young Minors in the West of Guatao.”
This Tuesday in court, he narrates, they put a video to demonstrate the presence of those who are being tried at the protests. However, he objects, “they didn’t put other parts that I’ve seen on the cell phones of people who filmed on the street near Toyo where policemen are seen shooting.”
“My son cannot spend one more day in that prison going through all the necessities that are experienced in a prison in Cuba,” he claims. “After I raised my voice asking for his freedom on Monday and they took me prisoner in a very violent way, yesterday they allowed me to see him for about 20 minutes, they gave me that opportunity because I protested. If not, they wouldn’t have given it to me.”
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
