In addition to Lizandra Góngora and Alexander Fábregas, Venezuelan Carlos Julio Rojas and Nicaraguan Nancy Elizabeth Henríquez were also awarded.
14ymedio, Havana, May 21, 2025 — The Cuban activist Alexander Fábregas, who was imprisoned in La Pendiente de Santa Clara, does not yet know that he received the 2025 Graciela Fernández Meijide Award for the Defense of Human Rights. The award, an initiative of the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL), also recognized the ’11J’ political prisoner, Lizandra Góngora.
“He is not aware yet; today I visited him, and when I left I learned that he had won the prize,” Fábregas’ mother, Luisa María Milanés, tells 14ymedio. The woman describes her 34-year-old son as someone who is currently extremely thin, “full of bedbug bites but strong in spirit and eager to keep fighting.”
The jury, composed of Rubén Chababo, Norma Morandini, Vicente Palermo, Inés Pousadela and Eduardo Ulibarri, evaluated the numerous applications received from Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. This time the winners, in addition to Fábregas and Góngora, were the Nicaraguan activist Nancy Elizabeth Henríquez and the Venezuelan journalist Carlos Julio Rojas. All four have been through very complicated situations, including prison, “for the sole reason of peacefully defending” democratic ideals and principles.
Alexander Fábregas was recently convicted of uploading videos to social networks in which he “questioned the Cuban State system and attacked the country’s president”
Alexander Fábregas was recently convicted of uploading videos to social networks in which he “questioned the Cuban State system and attacked the country’s president.” Judgment 20/2025 of the Chamber for Crimes against State Security of the People’s Provincial Court of Villa Clara stated that the activist committed an offense of “propaganda against the constitutional order” by these acts.
The ruling noted that the defendant made several broadcasts on Facebook in which he advocated going out to protest, said civil disobedience “is a right, not a crime,” and asked for support for “political prisoners.” For all this, the court considered it proven that the condemned person made these publications “with the intention of encouraging people to undermine social stability and the socialist state proclaimed by the Constitution of the Republic.”
This is not the first time that Fábregas has been in prison for his activism. His first arrest, for only three days – the maximum period without trial – for publishing a photo on social networks where he appeared with a sign that said: “No More Misery” took place in December 2020. Subsequently, he was arrested on the night of 11 July 2021 in his home, for transmitting on his social networks a call to go out into the streets of Sancti Spíritus to accompany the anti-government protests — subsequently referred to as ’11J’ — that shook the Island that day.
Lizandra Góngora was also among those condemned for participating in those demonstrations. In her case, the sentence amounted to 14 years in prison
Lizandra Góngora was also among those sentenced for participating in the demonstrations. In her case, the sentence amounted to 14 years’ imprisonment, and she is currently in a prison on Isla de la Juventud, far from where her five children live. Her detention in that prison has been considered a “cruel and ruthless tactic of the Castro regime in retaliation for her political opposition,” according to her brother, Ariel Góngora.
“I am very sad because I have not seen my children for four months since they moved me to this prison on Isla de Juventud, 160 kilometers from my home,” Góngora reported at the end of 2023. The activist was charged with the crimes of sabotage, robbery and public disorder during ’11J’ and received the highest sentence among all women sentenced for the same offenses.
The names of Góngora and Fábregas have been included on numerous lists of Cuban political prisoners, and several international organizations have demanded their immediate release.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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