Mantilla Arango has been sentenced four times for political reasons.
Miami, United States. – The Camagueyan opponent Virgilio Mantilla Arango was released after fully complying with his conviction, reported The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) in its X account.
The organization added that Mantilla Arango, convicted of its participation in The protests of July 11, 2021 (11j) and subsequently sanctioned by “contempt” in 2024, “spent more than four years in inhuman conditions that motivated constant complaints.”
Shortly after the news, the Blanco Ladies activist Leticia Ramos Herrería asked for help for the opponent, ensuring that after his imprisonment “he is in the worst of miseries.” “Neither a sleeping sheet has, telephone nor anything,” He wrote on Facebookand clarified: “He has not asked for anything, it is me who requests help for him.”
According to Diary of CubaMantilla Arango, leader of the Camagueyan unit, participated in the 11J protests shortly after leaving the prison of kilo 8, where he fulfilled a seven -month sanction. On July 16, 2021 he was arrested with other protesters and on September 29 of that year he was tried in prison. The Prosecutor’s Office requested three years of deprivation of liberty and was finally sentenced to three years and three months.
Although its release for compliance with sanction corresponded to October 16, 2024, in March of that same year, after protesting with other inmates for the shortage of food and medicines and the conditions in the prison, was accused of “contempt” and transferred to a punishment cell.
In April it was arranged to remain there and, in a process without lawyer and with irregularities, he received his fourth sentence for political reasons, this time of 10 months.
According to the same report, in February 2025 he was about to receive a fifth political conviction due to a new complaint filed by the authorities of kilo 7. The reason would have been the dissemination of a poem and his complaint about the situation of a cousin who made a hunger strike after being revoked a correctional work sanction with internment.
Despite the risks, the opponent said he would continue “denouncing human rights violations.”
According to Prisoners Defenders, there are currently 1,176 people prey for political reasons – a record since 2018. Between August 1, 2024 and July 31, 2025, the NGO added 141 new political prisoners (average monthly greater than 12) and, from July 2021 until last July, registered 1,869 people imprisoned for political reasons.
