Photo: Cubalex Archive.
Political prisoner Leoncio Rodríguez Ponce was arbitrarily transferred in the early hours of Sunday, December 7, from the Holguín Provincial Prison to another province, in retaliation for having started a hunger strike.
According to a recent update, After remaining missing for several days, it was confirmed that Rodríguez Ponce is being held in the Las Tunas Provincial Prison, known as The Typical.
According to information confirmed by Cubalex, he was forcibly transferred and initially taken to Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey, where he remained for only a few hours because the authorities refused to admit him. He was later sent to El Típico prison in Las Tunas, where he is currently being held in solitary confinement.
So far, he has been unable to communicate from prison, increasing concerns about his conditions of confinement and the risks he faces. It has also not been confirmed whether he is continuing the hunger strike he began on December 1st, a situation of extreme vulnerability given his advanced age and fragile health.
The transfer took place after State Security threatened to send him to another prison—other than Guantanamo, his home province—if he continued his protest. It began on December 1st, in solidarity with political prisoner Yosvany Rosell García Caso, who recently remained 40 days on hunger strike. During those days, he wrote messages like “Freedom for political prisoners” y “Freedom for Yosvany Rosell”.
On December 3, by order of the head of Internal Order of the prison, he was sent to a punishment cell in isolation, a measure that significantly aggravated the risk to his life, especially considering his delicate state of health.
The political prisoner's health is critical. He suffers from ulcers, hypertension, severe malnutrition, kidney problems, and rheumatism—conditions that place him at extreme risk in the event of a hunger strike and a forced transfer, where he could be exposed to ill-treatment or torture. At 60 years old, his physical frailty is even greater.
After 37 years imprisoned, The inhumane conditions in which he has been kept have accelerated his deterioration. Despite this, he is systematically denied the medical care he requires.
Ten years of exile and punishment
Leoncio Rodríguez Ponce was deported from Guantánamo ten years ago, despite it being his home province. Since then, prison authorities have refused to return him there, keeping him away from his family and making visits difficult.
This refusal has resulted in multiple forced transfers between prisons in different provinces. Throughout his imprisonment, Leoncio has been subjected to beatings, threats, denial of prison benefits, fabricated criminal charges, and forced transfers used as a form of punishment and attrition.
Systematic practice of prison violence
Forced transfers are a common arbitrary practice in the Cuban prison system, used to isolate, destabilize, and punish prisoners who protest or denounce abuses.
On several occasions, Rodríguez Ponce He was threatened with “deportation to prison.” to another province. This threat is part of a persistent pattern: since being taken from Guantánamo, he has been repeatedly transferred to various prisons throughout the country. Authorities have systematically refused to return him to his home province, deepening his isolation as retaliation for his critical stance.
Sentenced to 42 years in prison for his peaceful activism and opposition to the regime, Leoncio Rodríguez Ponce is one of the longest-serving political prisoners in Cuba. His prolonged incarceration, marked by continuous abuse, forced transfers, and denial of basic rights, demonstrates the severity of the repressive pattern applied against him.
Rodríguez Ponce has the word “change” tattooed on his forehead as a form of protest. State Security has pressured him to remove the tattoo in exchange for parole. Leoncio has refused, reaffirming his resistance and his convictions.
The enforced disappearance, his fragile health, and the history of reprisals against him place Leoncio Rodríguez Ponce at extreme risk. Cubalex demands that Cuban authorities immediately disclose his whereabouts, guarantee his physical safety, and cease the practices of punishment and isolation that violate his fundamental rights.
We call on the international community, human rights organizations, and the Cuban people to remain vigilant. Leoncio's life is in danger. His case must not be silenced.