The dissident remains confined in a cell in the infirmary without access to regular communication, with poor nutrition and without adequate medical check-ups.
MADRID, Spain.- The Cuban political prisoner Félix Navarro continues to be held in the infirmary of the Agüica prison, in the province of Matanzas, under an isolation regime that, as his family denounces, does not respond to a real medical need, but rather to a measure of punishment and control by the prison authorities.
His wife, the Lady in White Sonia Álvarez Campillo, explained to Martí News that Navarro remains incommunicado from the rest of the inmates and without minimum conditions inside the cell where he is confined. “He is still in the infirmary, in a cell that I say is a punishment cell because there he cannot talk to anyone, there he does not have a television to watch, there he has nothing. So that is a punishment cell, not being able to communicate with anyone because they have him isolated from the other prisoners,” he declared.
The authorities justify the isolation by alleging his status as an elderly adult, a version that his wife considers false. That is “a lie, because since he was imprisoned he is an older adult and they had him with the other prisoners,” he explains. And he adds that “what they (the regime authorities) do not want is for Félix to interact with the prisoners, that is why they have him in those conditions.”
During a phone call made on Monday, Navarro also warned about the poor diet inside the prison. “She told me on Monday when she called me: ‘hunger is torture,’” Álvarez said, quoting her husband.
The opponent’s wife also denounced the lack of comprehensive medical care. In the infirmary they only administer the medication corresponding to his diabetes, without carrying out systematic controls. “What they are giving him is the diabetes pill. It is the only thing they are giving him, they are not giving him anything else, because they don’t even have a strip to test him for diabetes,” he said.
Added to this is concern about other symptoms that have not been properly evaluated. “He was urinating very yellow, he still keeps urinating yellow. They did a test and told him no, that the test had been negative. All the tests they do on Félix are negative because they say it at their convenience,” said Álvarez.
Navarro received his last family visit on November 26. According to his wife, so far he has not been informed of the exact date of the next visit, scheduled for January.
Navarro, president of the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy and one of the island’s historic opponents, was sentenced to nine years in prison for the crimes of public disorder, contempt and attack, after participating in the protests of the July 11, 2021. In January 2025, he had been released on parole as part of an agreement between the Vatican and the Cuban government. However, on April 29, the Supreme Court revoked that measure, alleging that Navarro failed to comply with what was established during his probationary period by leaving his municipality without authorization and leaving his job. Since his re-entry to prison, a rapid deterioration in his health has been reported.
