The three political prisoners are serving sentences for participating in the 11J protests
14ymedio, Havana, 31 October 2024 — Political prisoners Sissi Abascal Zamora, Félix Navarro Rodríguez, and Sayli Navarro Álvarez (the latter two father and daughter), arrested during the Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 (’11J’) in Matanzas, have been awarded the Patmos Prize, given annually by the homonymous Institute.
A statement published on the institute’s website states that the award, which celebrates its eleventh edition this 2024, is awarded on October 31 of each year to honor a Cuban believer on Protestant Reformation Day. In the case of Abascal and the Navarros, the award was given to them for what they “represent for Cuba.” “The three of them, like John of Patmos, are also a testimony of genuine faith and visions of hope on the island of Cuba,” said the jury.
Sissi Abascal and Sayli Navarro are serving six and eight years in prison, respectively, and since their arrest in 2021 they have systematically suffered harassment from State Security and prison officers. Last September, the authorities of La Bellotex, the women’s prison in which both opponents are serving sentences, gave a four-day pass to five women who participated in the demonstrations of 11J, but Abascal and Navarro were not among them.
“They have never given them a pass, so it is an absolutely discriminatory exclusion” against the opponents
“They have never given them a pass, so it is an absolutely discriminatory exclusion” against the opponents, who are also part of the Ladies in White Movement, stated Martha Beatriz Roque, director of the Cuban Center for Human Rights.
Inside prison, Abascal and Sayli Navarro have held hunger strikes, protests and commemorations of 11J, which has resulted in greater severity on the part of the prison authorities. Although three years have passed since their confinement, neither of them has been transferred to a less strict authority.
In the case of Félix Navarro, former prisoner of the Black Spring of 2003 and coordinator of the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy – of which the two Ladies in White are also members – he is serving nine years in the Agüica prison, in the same province. The courts convicted him of the crimes of “attack” and “public disorder” just for going out to demonstrate on 11J.
Navarro has seen his health deteriorate during his time in prison. In November 2023 he was transferred to the Faustino Pérez hospital, in the city of Matanzas. State Security told his family that it was a routine medical check-up. “We don’t believe that version. He is in a delicate state of health; he is 70 years old and has several chronic diseases,” Annia Zamora, Abascal’s mother, told 14ymedio on that occasion.
For Patmos, the three political prisoners are not only people of faith, but Cubans who are “consistent” with their ideas
For Patmos, the three political prisoners are not only people of faith, but Cubans who are “consistent” with their ideas. “Felix represents all the prisoners of the old guard, and all the prisoners of conscience; Sayli and Sissi represent the prisoners of the new generations and all the women prisoners.
Patmos has previously awarded Cuban opposition figures like the sisters María Cristina and Angélica Garrido, and the brothers Jorge and Martín Nadir Perdomo (2023), imprisoned for demonstrating on 11J. That year, the political police tried to boycott the award ceremony in the neighborhood of La Palma, in Havana, and summoned the host of the institute, the evangelical pastor Luis Maldonado. The same summons was received by pastor Alejandro Hernández Cepero, who was later arrested.
In an audio sent to his friends, Maldonado said that agents and police vehicles surrounded the meeting place, although that did not prevent some of the relatives of the prisoners from arriving, such as Jorge and Nadir’s mother, Marta Perdomo. In the award ceremony, it was the first time that the institute honored more than one person.
Catholic activist Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello (in 2020) and Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet (in 2016), a Baptist activist, have also received the award, which has been given annually since 2014.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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