MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban Ana María García granted this Wednesday an interview to CubaNet in which she demanded the release of her daughter, Brenda Díaz, a young trans woman sentenced to 14 years in prison for his participation in the anti-government protests of the July 11, 2021 (J11).
After her arrest, Brenda has been shaved and forced to dress as a man. Instead of acknowledging her gender identity, her regime has kept her in male prisons and treated her with her dead name or last name.
“She was shaved in prison. They didn’t want her to have long hair of her own. That was a very hard blow for her and for me too”, lamented her mother, who assured that she has been “a year and three months without life (…). My life has been hell this entire year,” she added.
However, Ana María García pointed out that she will continue to fight for her daughter’s release. “I urge all the mothers, all the wives, all the children of all the prisoners that we go out into the streets, that we do something, so that they go free, so that we have a better country. I don’t care about anything anymore. I don’t care if they put me in jail, ”she assured.
Brenda was arrested near her home on July 11, 2021 (J11), shortly after the incidents for which she is accused. Initially, the Prosecutor’s Office asked him for 18 years in prison, which ended up being 14 for the crimes of attack and public disorder.
At the beginning of August it was learned that the Cuban regime had ratified Brenda’s 14-year prison sentence. The judicial body indicated that the sentence issued in the first instance against the protester for the alleged crimes of public disorder and sabotage had been “legal, fair” and “rational.”
The Castro justice alleges that the young Cuban woman —who was always addressed by her legal name— threw stones at a foreign exchange store in her Güira de Melena municipality, entered the establishment with some protesters and stole a fan, a pressure cooker and preserves.
In addition, Díaz was accused of having entered the headquarters of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and a station of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), and in both places she would have shouted slogans against “the political system” prevailing on the island.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +1 (786) 316-2072, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
