Dangerous transfer of political prisoner Lizandra Góngora Espinosa to the Isle of Pines prison

Photo: Lizandra Góngora Espinosa.

Ramón Zamora Rodriguez.

Director and National Spokesperson of the Republican Party of Cuba.

Lizandra Góngora Espinosa, a prominent activist in Cuba's Republican Party and political prisoner sentenced to 14 years in prison for the July 11th demonstrations, was transferred from the El Güatao women's penitentiary in Havana to the El Colono prison on the Isle of Pines, according to a re-educator who informed her husband, Ángel, in a phone call.

Many may interpret the transfer of political prisoner Lizandra Góngora as merely a method of distancing her from her family as punishment. However, the reality is that this transfer, more than 168 kilometers from her previous location, poses a serious threat to the health and life of this prominent activist. It is undeniable that the intention is to isolate her from the other political prisoners held in El Güatao, including the National Executive Director of the Republican Party of Cuba, Maria Cristina Garrido, and her sister, Angélica Garrido. This way, any intelligence activity can be easily masked and justified.

Lizandra has had to endure proven torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment at the hands of opportunistic uniformed officers in the Ministry of the Interior's jails and prisons. They have subjected her to long periods of isolation in punishment cells and mixed her with more severely incarcerated inmates, inciting them to attack Lizandra by promising them perks for making her life in prison a living hell. They have forbidden her calls to her husband and children (Lizandra is the mother of five young children). Faced with this cruel treatment, she was forced to go on a hunger strike. To undermine her courage and stance, the Castro regime's security forces sent her to the Mazorra Psychiatric Hospital under the pretext of a false diagnosis of mental imbalance, a method used by the regime with other prisoners to portray political prisoners as insane. When this failed due to the fortitude of the courageous member of the Republican Party of Cuba, Lizandra Góngora, they returned her to prison. Following the signing in blood of a letter by a dozen prisoners that made an impact on social media and other independent media outlets, where she is one of the signatories, the Castro regime's intelligence has intensified its harassment of all the signatories.

The regime's decision to send her to El Colono prison on the Isle of Pines, no less, has issued a warning to all human rights NGOs and the opposition to the Castro dictatorship to intensify their vigilance and focus all possible attention on political prisoner Lizandra Góngora. Everything indicates that this distancing from other political prisoners is a deliberate attempt to break her spirit and spread the idea of her being insane, or to fabricate a prison fight that could result in her being injured, even fatally, by some unscrupulous inmate. This arbitrary transfer is part of the many machinations of State Security, and we hereby declare the life and mental health of political prisoner Lizandra Góngora Espinosa to be in imminent danger, just like any other dirty trick played on the other political prisoners who signed the infamous letter issued from El Güatao prison with their blood. Lizandra Góngora Espinosa and all political prisoners have our support within and beyond the prison walls. Outside of Cuba. Let's show they have our support by making them visible! Let's be the voice of all political prisoners! Abandoning them is as criminal an act as the one the dictatorship uses against them!

Note: On Thursday night, Lizandra was transferred to the Isle of Pines and was not allowed to collect any of her belongings, not even toothpaste or underwear. By Friday, members of the Republican Party of Cuba on the Isle of Pines were aware of Lizandra's transfer and abduction, and on Saturday they personally brought her food, toothpaste, a toothbrush, shampoo, a towel, creams—in short, everything possible and necessary so that she would feel she was in our hearts and never abandoned to her fate. If the Castro regime thought they could give Lizandra the impression of abandonment, they are mistaken. The Republican Party of Cuba responds and will always respond to its members when they need it and will never abandon any of its members held captive by the bloody and terrorist Castro dictatorship.