Cuban dissident sent to the madhouse of death for defying regime

The price of dissent in totalitarian Cuba today

Daniel Llorente running with an American flag chased by secret police on May Day

On May Day 2017 Daniel Llorente Miranda (age 52) a Cuban dissident unfurled an American flag and ran in front of the official gathering in Havana, Cuba. The image captured by international media captured the imagination of many around the world. It was a symbol of freedom and of defiance by a Cuba who understands that "Freedom begins in the mind and that is something that has to change in Cubans, they are afraid to tell the truth. The truth is that in Cuba there is a system where the biggest beneficiary is the government. The people work and benefit the State." Moments later he was tackled down by state security agents and quickly whisked away.

Daniel Llorente knocked down by political police and about to be roughed up

He was charged with "public disorder and resistance" and was initially held at the Technical Department of Investigations of the Police in 100 and Aldabó and the official media slandered his courageous action as an "annexationist dialogue." 

Things took a more sinister turn when over three weeks ago Daniel Llorente Miranda was transferred to the Comandante Dr. Bernabé Ordaz Ducungé Psychiatric Hospital better known by its pre-revolutionary name Mazorra.

Using psychiatric facilities to torture dissidents is a practice that originated in the Soviet Union but was adopted early on by the Castro regime's intelligence services. In the Cuban case Mazorra is a madhouse of death were patients have died by the score from exposure to the elements and neglect by hospital staff.

Cuba's National Psychiatric Hospital "Mazorra"

Daniel Llorente Miranda has been terrorized, responded by going on hunger strike and is now requesting to be exiled. This is the price of dissent in totalitarian Cuba. When you defy the dictatorship you risk: arbitrary detention, death or exile.

Daniel is imprisoned and his life is in danger. He carried out a series of protests and risked all to try to raise the conscience of Cubans and their desire for freedom. The price he is paying is a steep one and he is asking for international solidarity and asylum.

Three of 26 patients who died of exposure in 2010 in Cuba