Photo: Sayli Navarro/Facebook.
Once again, the authorities of the La Bellotex women's prison, in the province of Matanzas, prevented activist Sonia Álvarez Campillo, a member of the Ladies in White, from visiting her daughter, political prisoner Sayli Navarro Álvarez.
On four consecutive occasions, Sonia has been denied the right to family visits simply for wearing white, a color that represents the peaceful resistance of the organization to which she belongs.
According to information received by Cubalex, on Wednesday, April 2, a corrections officer at the prison informed the family that she had express orders to prohibit Sonia from entering if she was wearing white. Given this situation, the visit could only take place with the presence of Sayli's father, Félix Navarro Rodríguez, and her uncle, Osvaldo Álvarez Campillo.
That same day, Félix Navarro filed a formal complaint with the Military Prosecutor's Office in Matanzas, which was received by prosecutor Miriela Gastón Arango. He also submitted two additional complaints to the Citizen Services Office of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), demanding justice for:
– The abuses against the political prisoner Francisco Rangel Manzano, held in the Canaleta prison.
– The mistreatment suffered by the common prisoner Ictianis Herrera Álvarez, detained in the prison of Agüica, municipality of Colón.
Both cases are further examples of institutional violence and the use of the Cuban prison system as a tool of political repression.
Sayli Navarro's family faces not only forced separation, but also a systematic denial of their basic rights. Her mother has been prevented from seeing her on multiple occasions, solely for exercising her freedom of expression and wearing white.
This situation reflects the suffering experienced by countless Cuban families, who day after day face repression, punishment, and injustice in Cuba for political reasons.