A hunger-motivated prison riot at the Canaleta maximum security prison in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, left at least seven inmates dead and several injured, the human rights organization Prisoners Defenders denounced on Thursday.
In a Facebook post, Prisoners Defenders, citing information from a female former Cuban political prisoner who spoke on condition of anonymity, denounced that the Canaleta prison riot broke in response to the death of a young inmate who was found hanged after he was brutally beaten by prison guards for demanding something to eat. Prisoners Defenders identified the dead young man as 20 year-old “Giancarlo” in a Friday morning social media post.
“A young man, almost a child, protested because they wouldn’t give him food, that he couldn’t take it anymore. He was fainting from hunger. They beat him brutally. Hours later, he was found hanged in his cell,” the woman told Prisoner Defenders.
“The prison is in riot right now. They are firing rubber bullets into the cells and using pepper spray. The prison is in riot because of hunger and mistreatment by the guards,” an unnamed inmate told Prisoners Defenders, who shared his testimony on social media. “And on the other hand, we don’t want the government, we don’t want the Cuban president, they don’t respond to the needs of our people, they are starving our families.”
The riot reportedly broke at around 02:00 a.m. on Thursday. The Madrid-based outlet Diario de Cuba confirmed the death toll reported by several international outlets. According to statements from the mother of an inmate, the inmates rebelled and started chanting slogans such as “Long live Trump,” “Down with Díaz-Canel,” “Fatherland and Life,” and “Freedom.”
Prisoners Defenders president Javier Larrondo told Martí Noticias that the riot was still ongoing as of Friday morning.
Diario de Cuba pointed out that neither Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, nor any Cuban state outlet has made any mention of the ongoing prison riot at press time.
“We are deeply concerned about what has been happening since last night. We have received information from local sources and inmates at that prison confirming the videos that have been circulating about the protest,” Camila Rodríguez, director of the Cuban Prison Documentation Center, told Martí Noticias.
“We know that special brigades have arrived, including the so-called Black Wasps,” she continued.
On early Friday morning, José Daniel Ferrer the leader of the largest dissident organization, the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), identified one of the most gravely injured inmates as Giorkis Vargas Ramos. Ferrer said that Vargas Ramos was hit by several rubber bullets at very close range and was taken from the Canaleta prison “covered in blood” to the Morón Hospital.
On Friday, Prisoners Defenders confirmed that Vargas Ramos is presently hospitalized with skull fractures and a broken vertebra after receiving a beating. The organization identified Daniel Labrada Morales as another inmate who received a brutal beating.
“The prisoners complained of hunger and repression. The response was the deployment of special riot control troops, which resulted in the deaths of several inmates,” Prisoner Defenders wrote.
The Cuban independent outlet 14 y Medio explained that the Canaleta maximum security prison, where the riot broke out, is considered to be the most rigorous prison in Ciego de Ávila and houses more than 3,000 inmates.
“Construction of the complex began in the mid-1960s with wooden barracks and was expanded in 1975 with multi-story buildings surrounded by a double perimeter fence and concrete walls. Due to its size and level of security, it houses a significant portion of the territory’s prison population,” 14 y Medio wrote.
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