The young man was sentenced to four years in prison for shouting slogans against the regime and served his full sentence.
14ymedio, Havana, July 7, 2025 — Andy García Lorenzo was one of the most visible faces on July 11, 2021. His mother, Tayri Lorenzo Prado, confirmed to 14ymedio that the young man “has been released after serving four years in prison, without any reduction in his sentence.”
García, then 23, was arrested after peacefully demonstrating in the Leoncio Vidal park in downtown Santa Clara. He was tried together with 15 other demonstrators and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for the offenses of public disorder and contempt.
“It was a trial without evidence, a farce,” his sister reported live on social media at the time. “Everything was based on the words of the police against his. It was a circus.”
“How am I going to regret the proudest act in my life, of all Cubans?” / CourtesyThe ruling of the Municipal Court of Santa Clara stated that the youth had met with other citizens in areas adjacent to the park to “shout slogans” such as “Díaz-Canel singado [sic] and Policía Pinga,” as well as “dance in the form of a mockery of uniformed personnel and townspeople who felt aggrieved by his rude behavior.” The prosecutor in the case, Daily Carrazana Rodríguez, even requested a seven-year prison sentence.
Despite institutional pressure, García enjoyed broad public support from the start. “They gave him a very long sentence, when in Santa Clara, as elsewhere, not even a shop window was broken and nothing happened at all,” his brother-in-law Jonatan López wrote on the social network X after hearing the sentence.
In May 2022, authorities announced that García would be transferred to an open regimen camp in El Yabú, a change that never materialized. Shortly thereafter, while going with his father Nedel García Pacheco to the prison of Guamajal to collect some belongings, both were intercepted on their way home. State Security agents transferred them to the 5th Santa Clara Unit for a “conversation,” and the minimum severity measure was revoked.
Throughout his sentence, García was steadfast in his convictions. In an interview with Cubanet, he said: “How am I going to regret the proudest act of my life, of all Cubans? It was the happiest day in history, the day when the people rose up against the oppressor.”
Now 27, Andy has returned home. One of his first gestures upon leaving was to visit the tomb of his paternal grandmother, who died during his imprisonment. He has also been able to rejoin his maternal grandparents, whose health has deteriorated in recent years.
“Andy is free, he owes nothing to the regime, and he’s going to take his time to be with the family,” said his mother. The family does not rule out continuing pressure from State Security, which in these cases usually tries to prevent former political prisoners and their relatives from talking to the independent press.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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