The young Mario Josué Prieto Ricardo, 27, bears the marks of prison on his body. He weighs just over a hundred pounds, it shows in his collarbone and ribs; His right eye sees poorly, cloudy, and he gets a punctual and painful migraine every day. His cell in Holguín is designed to break the prisoner’s will.
Niurka Ricardo, his mother, has done everything possible so that the world knows in whose hands the young people who protested on July 11 in Cuba are. “Her health is deteriorating with each passing day,” the woman assures 14ymedio, whose only hope is the mediation of the Government of Spain, a country of which Mario Josué has citizenship through his father, a beneficiary of the Grandchildren Law.
“I hope that the Spanish government intervenes in favor of Josué and asks for his repatriation to Spain,” he affirms, “that it does not leave my son’s freedom and life to the fate of the Cuban government.”
“They have made all possible efforts, but the Cuban government has not wanted to negotiate”
The family went to the Spanish Embassy in Havana and were attended by Minister Counselor Javier González Sanjuan and Political Counselor Julio Navas. They received careful and kind attention, says Niurka. “They have made all possible efforts, but the Cuban government has not wanted to negotiate.”
If someone asks Lieutenant Colonel Gilberto, provincial head of jails and prisons in Holguín, how the inmate’s health is, the answer will be the same as he gave his mother a few days ago: “I just saw him, he is better and fatter that I”.
Niurka lists her son’s ailments in prison: infections of covid-19 and dengue on two occasions; bloody diarrhoea, fever and abdominal pain caused by the contaminated water in the prison; nervous breakdown and chronic depression, which aggravate his condition as a psychiatric patient; gastritis, ulcers and lack of appetite.
“During the visits he is nervous, upset, he makes faces with his eyes and mouth,” his mother tells this newspaper. “The last time his girlfriend visited him, he didn’t eat anything.” In prison they do not treat him properly and the medicines must be brought by the family.
He is still waiting for an appointment with the neurologist, due to the blurred vision in his eye. In the meantime, she is receiving dipyrone injections, plus antidepressants and sleeping pills. Thanks to the prison doctor, Niurka has been able to learn about her son’s evolution and bring him some food.
On the 12th, while looking for a gift for his girlfriend, he was arrested by the Police. He spent four days in prison and had to pay a fine of 2,000 pesos
On 11J, Mario Josué joined the peaceful protest in Holguín. He lived in the US and, in 2020, traveled to Cuba to spend time with his parents after the death of his sister, a victim of cancer at the age of 37. They both resided in the state of Virginia and he cared for her. The closure of the borders due to the covid pandemic prevented him from returning to the US and his residence expired, since he never applied for citizenship. For this reason, he was still on the island when the demonstrations of July 11, 2021 occurred.
On the 12th, while looking for a gift for his girlfriend, he was arrested by the Police. He spent four days in prison and had to pay a fine of 2,000 pesos.
On August 23, 2021, he was arrested once again, and sentenced to 12 years in prison, on the charge of sedition.
“Since that day,” adds Niurka, “suffering, uncertainty, sadness and despair is the only thing that surrounds Mario Josué and all his loved ones and friends.” His trial was a pantomime: a military court, where only a relative of the inmate could enter.
“They searched our entire bodies,” says the woman, “they sent us to remove the clips from our hair, they searched our heads and our mouths, and we couldn’t even carry a piece of paper.” She points out that judges and prosecutors were in complicity with false witnesses, who could not even say the name of Mario Josué.
An individual who claimed to have been beaten by the young man changed his statement three times, Niurka denounces. In the end, he admitted that he didn’t even know Mario Josué. Only the lawyer defended his innocence, declaring that all that was “a poorly arranged lie.”
17 years of initial sentence; 12 after the cassation; barely 13 months served in La Vieja, as the Holguín provincial prison is known.
“They searched our whole body,” says the woman, “they sent us to remove the hairpins, they checked our heads and mouths, and we couldn’t even carry a piece of paper”
Several weeks ago, Niurka Ricardo decided not to consent to the degrading situation to which her son is subjected. To this end, he has started a campaign for his freedom, contacting the independent press, various human rights organizations and diplomats. “They have given him visibility,” says the woman, who thinks that the more his situation is known, the greater the possibility that he will be released and sent to Spain.
Mario José’s girlfriend also spoke with Emilio Aranguren, bishop of Holguín and president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, who is keeping abreast of the case.
Niurka and her husband are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and their beliefs prevent them from taking sides against any government. However, they want justice and freedom for their son.
“Mario Josué grew up listening to the stories of his great-grandfather’s longing for Spain, his homeland,” recalls Niurka. “So he promised his father that one day he would make his grandfather’s dream come true, and he would buy us a little house in Zamora or Roquetas de Mar, so we could all live together.”
To fight for that future, according to the woman, the young man went to the United States. “And I am sure that the diplomats will continue to insist until they manage to get Mario Josué out of Spain.”
________________________
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.
