Havana/This Tuesday, from the US State Department, a call came to the regime to release the 16-year-old political prisoner Jonathan Muir Burgos. Through the United States Deputy Undersecretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Riley Barnes, the White House urged the Cuban regime “to immediately release him, along with all political prisoners unjustly detained” in the country.
In an extensive message in X, the official recalled that “three months have passed since Jonathan David Muir Burgos was sent to a maximum security prison in Cuba, supposedly for participating in a demonstration.”
In addition, Barnes warned about the urgency for the teenager to receive medical attention, he said in reference to the dyshidrosis (skin condition that causes the formation of small blisters) that the minor suffers from and that in 2021 put his life in danger.
Finally, he stressed that “no person, especially no child, should be imprisoned for their political or religious opinions.”
At the end of April, the minor cried out from prison to his father to get him out of there. “I can’t take it anymore”
At the end of April, the minor cried out from prison to his father to get him out of there. ““I can’t take it anymore”said. The call was revealed by his father, Pastor Elier Muir, who, in a video broadcast by the evangelical religious Mario Félix Lleonart, reported that bedbugs do not let his son sleep in the Canaleta prison (Ciego de Ávila). “My skin is getting infected and my brain is feeling like it’s not going to hold up,” the father quoted his son. “I wrap myself in the sheet and even then, neither day nor night, the bites let me sleep.”
In addition, Félix Lleonart, director of the Patmos Institute and deputy responsible for monitoring the Religious Freedom Observatory of the CD Defense Center, told Martí News A week ago, the minor’s family “found him in a very bad condition. He needs specialized medical attention, not only because of his chronic skin condition, but because he also needs urgent dental care, but if this is done without taking into account dermatological treatments, it can be dangerous for his life.”
Jonathan Muir was arrested after protests in the past March 13 in Morón (Ciego de Ávila) due to the constant and prolonged blackouts. At the beginning of April, the precautionary measure of provisional detention was imposed on him and he was transferred to an adult prison. The regime charged him with the alleged crime of sabotagefor which he could spend between seven and 15 years in prison.
Current legislation establishes restrictive conditions to demand criminal liability from young people between 16 and 18 years old, which, in this case, raises doubts about the proportionality and legality of the measures adopted. On March 25, the family filed an appeal for habeas corpus in favor of the minor, which was flatly rejected by the Provincial Court of Ciego de Ávila.
On March 25, the family presented a writ of habeas corpus in favor of the minor, which was rejected.
His arrest has raised questions internationally. At the beginning of April, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) sent a request official to the Cuban Government demanding urgent information about the adolescent’s situation. Amnesty International also asked Miguel Díaz-Canel in a letter to immediately release the young man. He added that, “until his release, I ask that you ensure that he is transferred so that he is not held in any prison or adult detention center.”
Meanwhile, the German-based activist Tania Tasé reported that the young Yunaykis de la Caridad Linares Rodríguez, former political prisoner of 11J, who was arrested at the beginning of June in the context of protests that occurred in Santa Amalia, in Arroyo Naranjo, was transferred to the Western women’s prison, known as El Guatao.
Regarding the case, the Cubalex legal advice center warned about the possibility that Linares Rodríguez will see the conditional freedom he received revoked in 2025, in the context of the negotiations between the Cuban regime and the Vatican, when he had served almost half of an eight-year prison sentence for participating in the anti-government protests of 2021.
The young woman reported that she was beaten and asphyxiated during her detention. “The police officer was covering my mouth and nose to torture me,” said Linares Rodríguez in a video shared at the beginning of the month by Cubalex.
