Mother of Young Man Sentenced to Prison for July 11th is Hospitalized After a Suicide Attempt

A change of precautionary measure was approved for Castro on March 10 after she was detained for almost 15 days by State Security. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 19 March 2022 — Yudinela Castro Pérez, mother of the 18-year-old political prisoner Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro and a protester on July 11, has been admitted to the Julio Trigo hospital in Havana, after she made an attempt on her life. According to family sources confirmed to 14ymedio , Castro is out of danger.

“She is already recovering. She is under treatment in the Julio Trigo psychiatric ward,” says María Teresa Pérez, Castro’s mother. The woman, a leukemia patient, has also suffered several crises due to this condition in recent months.

A change of precautionary measure was approved for Castro on March 10 after she was held for almost 15 days by State Security in the Cuban capital. She is currently under investigation for an alleged crime of contempt.

She had been arrested on February 24 in the morning hours, activist Arián Cruz, Tata Poet, reported then, explaining that she was transferred to Villa Marista, a center known as the State Security headquarters in Havana. Cruz later reported that, after six days of investigation, the mother had been presented with “contempt charges.”

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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