Havana Cuba. – The brothers Harold Michel and Jimmy Yak Mena Nuviola, political prisoners of July 2021 (11J), began a hunger strike in the most rigorous Combinado del Este penitentiary, according to two political prisoners who are serving sentences there. prison.
Both young men, known by their fellow prisoners as “Los Jimaguas”, officially reside in the town of La Guinerabelonging to the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo.
According to one of the sources (on condition of anonymity), the Mena Nuviola brothers began the protest on Tuesday, May 16, demanding their immediate release, as they insist that they do not have to be imprisoned for exercising their universal rights. .
This was also confirmed by telephone by another protester from La Güinera, Andrew López Fragoso, 31 years old. López Fragoso worked in the food stall of that distribution until he was arrested at his home by agents of the Technical Department of Investigations (DTI) in civilian clothes on July 16, 2021. He is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence for the alleged crime of sedition.
Brothers Jimmy Yak and Harold Michel Mena Nuviola are being held in Building 3 of the Combinado del Este, the largest prison facility in the country. Already in June 2022, Harold Michel starred in another similar protest, for which he was violently punished by soldiers from the prison and was also confined in solitary confinement. On this occasion he has been joined by his brother, Jimmy Yak Mena Nuviola.
Harold Michel Mena Nuviola, 29 years old, with a prosecutor’s request for 20 years in prison, was finally sentenced to 15 years. The trial against him and other protesters from La Güinera took place in January 2022 at the Popular Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre.
For his part, 30-year-old Jimmy Yak Mena Nuviola was arrested in October 2021. After spending several months in jail, he received a prosecutor’s request for 12 years in prison for the alleged crime of sedition. He was tried along with other protesters in the court itself on December 16, 2022.
