14ymedio, Havana, 10 March 2022 — Yudinela Castro Pérez, the mother of the young 18-year-old political prisoner Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro and July 11th (11J) protester, was approved this Thursday for a change of precautionary measure after spending almost 15 days under arrest by State Security in Havana.
“From today Yudinela, a cancer patient who cares for her little grandson, will continue the investigation process at home, for alleged contempt,” the Justica 11J platform reported on its Twitter account, noting that her son “continues to be held in a Cuban jail.”
Castro was arrested on February 24 in the morning hours, activist Arián Cruz, Tata Poet, reported then, who explained that she had been transferred to Villa Marista, a center known as the State Security barracks in the Cuban capital. Cruz later reported that, after six days of investigation, the mother had been presented with “contempt charges.”
Castro, a leukemia patient, had to spend “a week in hospital last January and it was quite serious because she fainted as a result of toxoplasmosis,” Cruz clarified. She also reported that every day she must take “a series of medications that they did not let her bring with her, and she has not taken them for two days.” This newspaper tried to contact her long before her arrest was known, but her mobile phone reports that it is out of service due to “call restriction.”
A day after her arrest, a habeas corpus petition in favor of Castro was delivered to the People’s Provincial Court in Havana because “her arrest and the subsequent proceedings were totally arbitrary,” Cruz said.
Since her son was taken to jail, Castro has denounced each of the injustices that have been committed against the young man and has not stopped demanding his freedom. In an interview with 14ymedio, she reported threats from State Security if she continued “demanding and protesting” in favor of the young man.
She has also denounced “the lies” of the regime told in the trial that was held against her son Rowland, accused of sedition and with an initial prosecutor’s request of 23 years, later reduced to 12.
On several occasions, Castro has been arbitrarily detained by State Security officials for interrogation, but she has always warned that “no matter what it costs,” nothing will stop her in her fight for her son’s freedom.
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