Both opponents were intercepted by members of the political police and their whereabouts are still unknown.
14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2025 — Former political prisoner Félix Navarro and his wife, the Lady in White Sonia Álvarez, were arrested on Sunday in Perico, Matanzas province, as they were heading to the local Catholic church. The activists are prohibited from attending Sunday mass, as a State Security agent warned them earlier this month .
Around eight in the morning, both opponents were intercepted by members of the political police and their whereabouts are still unknown, according to dissident Ángel Moya. The former prisoner of the Black Spring reported that in the hours before their arrest, the couple’s telephone service had been cut off.
“Felix managed to send me a message with another person and told me that since yesterday they have no connection on their cell phones and cannot make calls”
This would be the second consecutive Sunday that Navarro and Álvarez have been detained on their way to church. On March 2, they were intercepted by State Security agents and taken to a police unit in the municipality, where they were held for almost three hours until they were released.
“There were no fines, but they gave us a warning letter saying that we cannot attend mass on Sundays,” Navarro said at the time. The arrest was condemned by the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) in a statement.
“We denounce before the world the systematic repression of the Cuban government against those who think differently and we demand the immediate release of Sonia Álvarez and Félix Navarro,” they stressed.
The organization noted that Navarro is vice president of the CTDC and was part of the group of 75 dissidents, intellectuals and independent journalists sentenced in 2003 during the Black Spring and that, together with Álvarez, he is “a firm voice in the fight for human rights on the Island.”
Navarro, 71, with a long history of dissent, was released from prison on January 18 as part of the process of releasing 553 people from prison, initiated after negotiations with the United States, mediated by the Vatican, during the administration of Democrat Joe Biden.
Navarro, 71, with a long history of dissent, was released from prison on January 18
In his case, he was serving a nine-year prison sentence for the crimes of contempt, public disorder and attack, and was arrested along with his daughter Sayli – who received the same sentence and remains in prison – during the Island-wide anti-government protests of 11 July 2021.
Both have been recognized by Amnesty International (AI) as prisoners of conscience. This was their third conviction “for political reasons,” according to AI.
This Sunday, the Ladies in White Lazara León and her mother Norma Cabrera were also arrested in Perico, on their way to church, according to opposition member Ángel Moya.
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