Camagüey activist Aniette González García was released on December 6 after serving a three-year sentence for 'insulting national symbols.' Her arrest stemmed from Facebook photos of herself wrapped in the Cuban flag demanding the release of artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. Several organizations condemned the inhumane prison conditions she endured.
Aniette González García, a Camagüey activist, was freed on December 6, 2024, after fully serving her three-year sentence at the Kilo 5 women's prison. She was arrested in March 2023 for posting Facebook images of herself wrapped in the Cuban flag, supporting a campaign to free Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement, who has been imprisoned since 2021 on similar charges.
She spent nearly a year in pretrial detention before her February 2024 trial, where she received the three-year term; prosecutors had sought up to four years. Her family filed numerous legal challenges, including habeas corpus, appeals, and motions to revoke detention, but all were denied by the court.
The release was announced by journalist José Luis Tan Estrada at an event in Mexico supporting Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Groups like the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP) welcomed the news but decried the criminalization of dissent. 'Her case exemplifies the criminalization of dissent and the use of the penal system to punish expressions protected by the right to freedom of thought and expression,' ICLEP stated, condemning the arbitrary detention and prison harassment.
The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, based in Madrid, described González's case as 'a clear example of how the regime uses the penal system to punish peaceful expressions and repress any critical gesture,' noting that her release does not erase the injustice or the conditions flagged by international bodies.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued precautionary measures in May 2024, deeming it 'especially serious' that she lacked medical care for her bleeding, and warning of irreparable risks to her life, integrity, and health. It highlighted abuses such as flooded and damp cells, interrogations in cold rooms, clothing control, and inadequate food.
Prisoners Defenders' latest report lists 1,179 political prisoners in Cuba, including 35 minors aged 16 or older, with 29 serving sentences and six under unsupervised precautionary measures.
