Activist Lizandra Góngora suffers humiliation in Cuban prison

By ADNcuba.

Lizandra Góngora Espinoza.

Miami. December 7, 2021. Authorities at the El Guatao women's prison in Havana strip activist Lizandra Góngora naked under the pretext of ensuring prison security every time she receives visitors from outside, a source who preferred to remain anonymous told ADN Cuba on December 7.

“They strip her completely naked, they take off her panties (women's underwear), they make her bend over in front of the guards when she goes out to receive visitors or returns,” the source confessed.

Furthermore, the prison guards have explicit orders not to speak to her and to act as if she doesn't exist. The source adds that the prison administration prevents her from receiving belongings sent by her family and also refuses to replace them when they request their return.

The activist, a resident of Güira de Melena, was wounded in the leg while protesting in front of the MLC store on July 11, during the massive demonstrations against the Cuban regime that day. She fled to avoid arrest. She remained in hiding for several days, “alone” and “adrift.” She was eventually apprehended and confined in the Guatao women's prison.

A mother of five children, whom she left in the care of her family, Góngora is the woman who at night broadcast a cacerolazo (pot-banging protest) on her Facebook page where she demanded freedom for political prisoners and denounced all the shortages with which people subsist in Cuba.

“With her civic protests, she taught her children not to be afraid, not to be silent. (…). The children usually accompanied her in her videos, without speaking, until on July 2nd a couple of people from the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) knocked on her door to intimidate her.”

“They told her that if her children continued to appear on live streams with her, they would take custody away from her because it was affecting the children's development. This is a common tactic used by State Security against women who dissent. Lizandra reported everything on video,” CubaNet stated.

Following the protests of July 11, which turned dozens of localities across the country against the government, Havana intensified its persecution of opponents.

As of November 23, the Cubalex Legal Information Center and the Justice 11J working group on politically motivated arrests in Cuba had recorded a total of 1,281 arrests related to the mass protests. 551 people were released, while 662 remain in detention, including more than 20 young Cubans aged 18 or younger.