Matanzas/Pavel Torres Rodríguez from Matanzas was released last Tuesday, October 21, after spending a year imprisoned in the Combinado del Sur, initially accused of “propaganda against the constitutional order.” His departure occurred after a change of measure in which the Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the original case and replaced it with a new manufactured crime: “resistance to arrest”, punishable by up to one year of deprivation of liberty, exactly the time that the activist served behind bars.
“I always wanted to be seen as an instigator of public disorder,” Torres tells 14ymedio. “State Security tried to link me with dissident figures and groups inside and outside Cuba. They mentioned names like Dr. Alina Hernández, José Daniel Ferrer or the Unpacu (Patriotic Union of Cuba). I responded that I admire those Cubans, who influence my critical thinking, but I am not affiliated with any political party.”
The only “crime” of the resident of the Versalles neighborhood, in Matanzas, was speak without fearopenly criticize the economic situation of the country and the performance of the leaders, whom he accused of having forgotten the people. He also did not refrain from treating them as “thieves” in his publications on social networks.
“I went from a normal life with my family to being confined in a breeding ground for bedbugs and diseases.”
On October 11, 2024, after “spewing something atrocious” in the doorway of his house, after a blackout – according to Margarita Rodríguez, the mother – a patrol arrived and took him into custody. “The rest is history,” the lady added, “two weeks at the Técnico and since then at the Combinado del Sur.”
Until then, Torres worked in a neighborhood guarapera and was fond of spearfishing, but two years ago he suffered a heart attack that left him with scars. “I fear for him,” Margarita confessed, “because I have heard rumors of prisoners who have died in the Combinado del Sur. I already lost a daughter after Covid-19, I couldn’t resist losing another child.”
During his imprisonment he lived with common inmates in conditions that he described as “inhumane.” “I went from a normal life with my family to being confined in a breeding ground for bedbugs and diseases,” he recalls. “Despite everything, I tried to stay calm. Some prisoners ended up being like my family.
“The hardest thing about unjust prison is not getting there, but surviving the cycle of new difficulties that begins from the first day,” confesses the man from Matanzas. He was overwhelmed by the uncertainty of not knowing where his criminal proceedings would end up, without having committed a crime, “at the expense of creating a situation, real or fabricated by the authorities,” where both his physical and emotional safety would be endangered.
“I know they can invent a new cause and repeat the cycle”
Torres assures that his faith in God was what kept him firm during the months of confinement. “I will continue to think freely, without inciting violence, but being critical of the country’s path,” he told this newspaper. “Although a semi-illiterate officer can destroy your life with a signature, I believe that the day will come when that same oppressive power will have the opportunity to redeem itself in a Cuba with everyone and for the good of all, as the Apostle said.”
Despite his release, the 46-year-old man from Matanzas is considered under “conditional freedom.” Both he and his family fear that surveillance by State Security bodies will continue, often carried out by neighbors who are sympathetic to the regime. “I know they can invent a new cause and repeat the cycle,” he warns.
With uncertainty as a companion, Torres Rodríguez says he walks “with God, country and freedom in his heart,” determined to continue being useful on the path towards a more just Cuba.
