PRESS RELEASE

URGENT APPEAL TO INTERNATIONAL PERSONALITIES SEEKS TO SAVE THE LIFE OF CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONER ALEXANDER DIAZ RODRIGUEZ HOSPITALIZED IN PINAR DEL RÍO

Contacts: John Suarez (612) 367-6845/ Janisset Rivero (786) 208-6056

“I ASK YOU TO INTERCEDE FOR ALEXANDER’S LIFE. LET’S NOT LET HIM DIE IN PRISON.”

Center for a Free Cuba, April 10, 2025, Washington, DC. The Chairman and Board of Directors of the Center for a Free Cuba have sent an urgent appeal to world figures to intercede for the life of political prisoner Alexander Diaz Rodriguez, who is in the Prison Ward of the Abel Santamaría Hospital in Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba, vomiting blood. He has been suffering from thyroid cancer since his diagnosis in 2022 and has not received adequate medical attention. Among the recipients of the letter are Pope Francis, Archbishop Thomas Wenski, US Congressmen Chris Smith and James P. McGovern, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, Roberta Motsela, President of the European Parliament, and representatives of the international organizations Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Pax Cristi, and the rapporteurs of the UN Human Rights Council.

This afternoon, Moraima Rodríguez Batista, the mother of political prisoner Díaz Rodríguez, arrived at the hospital to learn about her son’s health. More information is expected shortly.

The appeal calls on these figures and international organizations to intercede with the Cuban authorities to ensure that this political prisoner is released and receives adequate medical care.

“It is with utmost respect that we address this letter to you to ask your respective institutions to intercede with the government of General Raul Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez to save the life of a deathly ill political prisoner.

Alexander Diaz Rodriguez was badly beaten and detained on July 11, 2021, while participating in protests in the city of San Antonio de los Baños, in the province of Artemisa located southwest of Havana. These historic protests began in San Antonio de los Baños, and spread across all of Cuba. He was a member of the Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre Frank País, an illegal political party founded in the 1990s promoting human rights, and nonviolent civic action.

He was born on August 6, 1980, and is 44 years old. Alexander was sentenced to five years in prison. During this time, he has been subject to ill treatment that rises to the level of torture for denouncing human rights conditions in the prisons where he has been incarcerated.

Following a political show trial he was taken to Guanajay Prison where he went on hunger strike three times, refused to participate in pro-government political activities and to wear common prisoners’ clothes.

During phone calls to his mother, Moraima Rodriguez from that prison, Alexander reported on the abuses he and other prisoners suffered. He was pushed down five steps of a prison staircase, and once on the ground, was kicked and beaten in 2022. The last beating inflicted on him in Guanajay Prison was for refusing to participate in a pro-regime event commemorating the July 26, 1953 assault on the Moncada barracks.

From there, he was transferred to the infirmary of Combinado del Este Prison. He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer while he was detained at Combinado del Este Prison’s Infirmary in Havana on October 14, 2022. After being diagnosed with this cancer, he was sent to Kilo 5 ½ Prison in Pinar del Rio without medical attention.

He is being held at the Pinar del Río, Cuba. Correctional Center Augusto Cesar Sandino, four hours drive from his home in Havana. Alexander was in the prison’s dining room and began vomiting blood. He continued coughing after washing his mouth out, and continued coughing up blood. As far as Moraima knows, it wasn’t due to another beating, but she has been unable to confirm what happened to her son. She obtained this information from the relatives of other inmates who learned about this incident from their jailed family members.

On April 7th, 2025 Alexander was temporarily transferred from the correctional center to Abel Santamaria Hospital, Kilometer 89, where he is being held in the prison ward.”

The Center for a Free Cuba calls on international human rights organizations and free governments around the world to not forget the thousands of political prisoners whose lives are in danger in Cuban prisons and to hold the Havana regime accountable for these cases.

Below is the full text of the letter.

Dear XXXXXXX

It is with utmost respect that we address this letter to you to ask your respective institutions to intercede with the government of General Raul Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez to save the life of a deathly ill political prisoner.

Alexander Diaz Rodriguez was badly beaten and detained on July 11, 2021, while participating in protests in the city of San Antonio de los Baños, in the province of Artemisa located southwest of Havana. These historic protests began in San Antonio de los Baños, and spread across all of Cuba.  He was a member of the Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre Frank País, an illegal political party founded in the 1990s promoting human rights, and nonviolent civic action.

He was born  on August 6, 1980, and is 44 years old. Alexander was sentenced to five years in prison. During this time, he has been subject to ill treatment that rises to the level of torture for denouncing human rights conditions in the prisons where he has been incarcerated.

Following a political show trial he was taken to Guanajay Prison where  he went on hunger strike three times, refused to participate in pro-government political activities and to wear common prisoners’ clothes. During phone calls to his mother, Moraima Rodriguez from that prison, Alexander reported on the abuses he and other prisoners suffered.  He was pushed down five steps of a prison staircase, and once on the ground, was kicked and beaten in 2022. The last beating inflicted on him in Guanajay Prison was for refusing to participate in a pro-regime event commemorating the July 26, 1953 assault on the Moncada barracks.

From there, he was transferred to the infirmary of Combinado del Este Prison. He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer while he was detained at Combinado del Este Prison’s Infirmary in Havana on October 14, 2022. After being diagnosed with this cancer, he was sent to Kilo 5 ½ Prison in Pinar del Rio without medical attention.

He is being held at the Pinar del Río, Cuba. Correctional Center Augusto Cesar Sandino, four hours drive from his home in Havana.

Alexander was in the prison’s dining room and began vomiting blood. He continued coughing after washing his mouth out, and continued coughing up blood. As far as  Moraima knows, it wasn’t due to another beating, but she has been unable to confirm what happened to her son. She obtained this information from the relatives of other inmates who learned about this incident from their jailed family members.

On April 7th, 2025 was temporarily transferred from the correctional center to Abel Santamaria Hospital, Kilometer 89, where he is being held in the prison ward. No family member has been able to see him.

Morayma Rodriguez Batista, mother of Cuban prisoner of conscience Alexander Diaz Rodriguez is requesting assistance to free her son from the unjust sentence he is serving at the Augusto Cesar Sandino Correctional Center, and that he receive adequate medical attention for a cancer he is suffering from. Last time she was able to see her son was on January 28, 2025.

Currently, there are over 1,100 political prisoners in Cuba, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has not been able to see any of them. The last time the ICRC was able to visit Cuban prisons, and meet with prisoners was in 1989.

Political prisoner Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas (age 27) was killed on November 30, 2024 in the Combinado del Este prison, his death officially attributed to asphyxiation from hanging. However, Manuel’s body and his clothes bore signs of torture, including muddy footprints and urine-soaked pants. In a video that went viral, his mother, Dania María Esplugas, states her son was murdered by prison officials. She believes Manuel was beaten to death, with the hanging staged to cover up the abuse. Dania observed marks on his neck, back, and arms, which led her to conclude Manuel was tortured with a military belt and baton.

We implore you to address the Cuban government urgently for Alexander Diaz Rodriguez’s release, and that he immediately receive adequate medical attention before he dies in prison from this illness, and the poor conditions he is being subjected to, as well as the release of all other political prisoners. We are also requesting that Havana permit the International Committee of the Red Cross to inspect Cuba’s prisons.

Gratefully and respectfully,

Alexander Diaz Rodríguez

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