Chronicle of Resistance: Lizandra Góngora’s Birthday

File Photo: Lisandra Góngora, Directora de la Comisión de Elecciones del Partido Republicano de Cuba (PRC), presa política de la tiranía

By: José Luis Tan Estrada 

Today, behind the bars of a Cuban prison, Lisandra Góngora, Director of the Elections Commission of the Republican Party of Cuba (PRC) and a political prisoner of the tyranny, marks another year of life. There are no cakes, no balloons, no toasts. What accompanies her is the harsh silence of prison and the certainty that her “crime” was demanding freedom for her people.

Lisandra is one of those women the dictatorship could not tame through fear. A mother, a fighter, and a firm voice, she chose to stand on the side of truth even though it cost her imprisonment. Her birthday, far from being just another day, becomes a date of dignity—that of a woman who celebrates life even as they try to take it from her at every dawn behind bars.

Today we congratulate her not only for being born on a day like this, but for remaining standing where many would have fallen. Her resistance is also a gift to Cuba, because it reminds us that freedom still has guardians, even when they are imprisoned.

Congratulations, Lisandra. Your light does not fade.