Her mother, the Lady in White Annia Zamora, is traveling with her thanks to a humanitarian visa granted to both of them by the State Department
14ymedio, Madrid, 14 May 2026 / Political prisoner Sissi Abascal Zamora and her mother, Annia Zamora, also a member of the Ladies in White, are arriving in Miami this Thursday with a humanitarian visa accompanied by other family members, according to activist Ángel Moya, husband of the leader of the women’s organization, Berta Soler.
The release of the young activist, just 27 years old, was reportedly arranged by the regime, as Abascal was being held in the La Bellotex women’s prison in Matanzas, serving a sentence for her participation in the July 11, 2021 protests. Saylí Navarro, daughter of fellow prisoner of conscience Félix Navarro, is also serving her sentence in the same prison. Both rejected, as was learned earlier this month, a proposal to leave Cuba made by the auxiliary bishop of Havana, Eloy Ricardo Domínguez Martínez, who visited them at the prison where they are serving their sentences.
In an audio recording shared by the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH), Sonia Álvarez Campillo, Saylí’s mother and Félix’s wife, said that they were not going to leave the country. “Last Tuesday, the auxiliary bishop of Havana and president of the Prison Ministry appeared at the Agüica prison in Matanzas, with the aim of inviting Félix to leave the country,” Álvarez Campillo recounts in the audio.
From there, the prelate went to La Bellotex to present the same situation to Saylí, who refused, just like her father. It’s reasonable to assume the message was also intended for Abascal, and that she would have accepted, although this will surely be one of the questions the young woman will have to answer upon her arrival in Florida.
It’s reasonable to assume the message was also for Abascal, and if so, she would have accepted, although this will surely be one of the questions the young woman will have to answer upon her arrival in Florida.
Abascal’s release has been arranged by the Fundación Rescate Jurídico [Legal Rescue Foundation], headed by activist and businessman Santiago Álvarez, who announced that the young woman will be available to the press this Thursday from 12 noon at the organization’s headquarters.
Known for being the youngest member of the Ladies in White, as well as a member of the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy, Abascal was serving a six-year prison sentence, meaning she still had 14 months left to complete. Last September, Annia Zamora denounced the seventh time the authorities had refused to grant her the benefit of a less restrictive prison regime, despite her having just undergone surgery for a gynecological condition.
Abascal, known for her refusal to wear a prison uniform, which has earned her severe punishments, is one of the most internationally recognized prisoners. In early April, it was reported that Washington had given Havana 15 days to release some of its highest-level political prisoners as a goodwill gesture, but the deadline—if it ever was given—passed without consequence.
This Wednesday, USA Today published a brief audio recording of a conversation with Maykel Castillo Osorbo, who told the American media outlet that he had also received an offer of freedom in exchange for exile—though this wasn’t the first time such an offer had been made public. “Either you want to emigrate, tell me if you want to emigrate, or you want to stay in this same situation you’re in now, imprisoned until 2030,” the rapper claims State Security made the offer.
However, his answer was no: “Freedom cannot be bought at any price. That’s clear. I understand. I will always make that clear.”
However, his answer was no: “Freedom cannot be bought at any price. That is clear. I understand. I will always make that clear.”
For his part, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara also spoke briefly with the media outlet, telling them: “I am an artist, and I believe that both Maykel and I could be in New York right now, in any reality, living our art, fighting as artists to make our mark in the art world. But we decided to sacrifice all that vanity.” The artist, probably the most internationally known political prisoner, who has two months left on his sentence, added: “We found a path in art, a reason to believe that art could change things, and that’s why we put our bodies on the line for change in Cuba. Our responsibility as artists, as Cubans, is that we came as prisoners.”
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