A Cuban prison official enlisted the help of another inmate and assaulted political prisoner Lizandra Gongora because she demanded her weekly phone call. This is how women are treated in communist Cuba. This is how the socialist revolution deals with women who dare to speak out and demand justice. This is socialism in action.
Via CiberCuba (my translation):
Political prisoner Lizandra Gongora is beaten inside the Los Colonos prison
Political prisoner Lizandra Góngora was allegedly assaulted last Saturday at the Los Colonos prison on the Isla de la Juventud.
According to activist Ángel Delgado, Góngora’s ex-husband, the political prisoner was beaten by a prison officer and another inmate after protesting for her right to the weekly phone call, as reported to Martí Noticias.
“When she saw everyone else making calls, she went to the boss and asked, ‘Hey, when is my turn for the phone?’ The officer replied, ‘You don’t get a phone today,’ to which Góngora reacted by saying, ‘What do you mean I don’t get a phone today, when you changed my day from Monday to Saturday for me to talk to my children?'” Delgado recounted how the exchange took place.
Finally, in response to Góngora’s complaints, the guard “turned around, with another inmate, grabbed her, and then the other inmate joined in, both of them attacked Lizandra,” said Delgado.
Delgado received an account from another inmate who called him that day and fears that his wife may be in solitary confinement.
This inmate also told the activist that Góngora “is standing her ground, she doesn’t want to eat, she doesn’t want to get out of bed (…) she says she was trembling on top of the bed and, since she saw everything and gets along well with Lizandra, she told me.”
In April of this year, Góngora was transferred to a prison on the Isla de la Juventud, 160 kilometers from her home.
Up until that point, Góngora was serving a 14-year prison sentence at the women’s prison in Guatao, La Lisa, Havana, for her participation in the protests on July 11, 2021 in Güira de Melena, Artemisa province.
The transfer of the political opponent could be related to the activism she has maintained from prison, as well as the usual complaints from her family about her situation, especially from her ex-husband, the opposition figure Ángel Delgado.
In August of the previous year, the Cuban activist stated in an audio message sent from prison that the long sentence against her demonstrates the regime’s fear of dissidents in the country.
“I was sentenced to 14 years in prison and I won’t deny that I’m sad because I miss my little ones, but I don’t feel defeated, much less vanquished. I feel stronger and filled with more hatred against these terrorists,” she expressed.
A mother of five children, she was forcibly disappeared shortly after her arrest and has suffered humiliations and mistreatment in prison.
The Military Prosecutor’s Office of Artemisa, which handled the activist’s case, kept Góngora in legal limbo since her detention in July 2021, without disclosing the charges for her alleged crimes until mid-March 2022.
Góngora was accused of sabotage, robbery with force, and public disorder – along with independent journalist Jorge Bello Domínguez – as the alleged responsible parties for the attack on the dollar store La Imprenta in Güira de Melena during the protests of July 11th. Bello Domínguez was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the same case.
The “progressive” crowd isn’t interested in Cuba’s political prisoners, which is one reason there are so many.