GUANTANAMO, Cuba. — The political prisoner and protester of July 11 (11J) Carlos Manuel Pupo Rodríguez, National Coordinator of the Union for Free Cuba Party (PUNCLI) and managing leader of the Emilia Project, is in a punishment cell in the Kilo 5 and a half prison, in the province of Pinar del Rio.
Yusef Pérez Morera, also a political prisoner of 11J in Artemisa and a member of the Emilia Project in San Antonio of the Bathsreported to CubaNet that Pupo Rodríguez has been naked in the punishment cell since June 4. Previously, the activist had been beaten by officers of that penitentiary center.
According to the source, the inmate was taken to the Internal Order office. There they told him that he should dress in the regulation prison uniform.
Pupo Rodríguez refuses to wear that uniform, alleging that he is innocent and that, for this reason, he would not dress as a prisoner. He also considers that the uniform they are forcing him to wear is humiliating and contravenes the Mandela Rules of United Nations.
In December 2021, Carlos Manuel Pupo Rodríguez was sentenced to six years in prison for the alleged crimes of public disorder and contempt due to his participation in the 11J protests. The sanction was confirmed at the oral appeal hearing, held in April.
That same month, the activist was admitted to the Abel Santamaría hospital in the province of Pinar del Rio after presenting health problems due to diabetes and high blood pressure.
Last May, Pupo Rodríguez spent 12 days on a hunger strike —from the 18th to the 30th—. The opponent demanded compliance with the Mandela Rules within the prisons, as well as respect for the human rights of prisoners and the freedom of all political prisoners.
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