The Mothers of ’11 July’, an Iron Link for Political Prisoners in Cuba

Three mothers of the 11J (July 11, 2021) prisoners. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 29 December 2022 — Barbara FarratYudinela CastroMaría Luisa Fleitas Brav , Migdalia Gutiérrez PadrónLiset Fonseca, Marta Perdomo , Norabel Herrera, Marilin Cabrera. These are just a few names of the women who, in 2022, raised their voices again for political prisoners. In his case, his own children, detained – some still without sentence – after the demonstrations of July 11, 2021.

This year, 14ymedio dedicated a special to them to commemorate the first anniversary of the massive protests, which compiled the interviews conducted by our director, Yoani Sánchez.

In them, they recounted where they were that Sunday, when the demonstrations began, how the arrests of their relatives occurred and the details of the grotesque trials, the painful days in prison and the frustrated hope of a sterile appeal.

Some affirm that their children did not even participate, others claim that they marched peacefully asking for freedom, others cannot believe that, even if they had thrown a stone, they have been sentenced more harshly than murderers and rapists.

Surveilled, threatened, harassed, and in several cases detained for questioning, the mothers, wives, and sisters of prisoners have become easy targets for State Security, which, however, has not calculated that these links are made of iron and that they will continue in their fight no matter what happens. “They will not silence us”, is the cry that all of them have in common.
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