Aymara Nieto Muñoz: Courageous Cuban Woman and Mother of Three Faces Four Years in Prison for her Political Activism

Mother of three sentenced to four years in prison for her nonviolent political activism

Aymara Nieto Muñoz: Political prisoner and mom of three girls

The Municipal Court of Boyeros, in Havana, Cuba on April 25, 2019 confirmed a sentence of four years in prison for Aymara Nieto Muñoz. This mother of three young daughters is a member of the Ladies in White, a human rights movement that seeks freedom for all political prisoners in Cuba.

Aymara Nieto with her family back in September 2016

The first time I heard of Aymara Nieto was on September 20, 2015 when she along with three other activists risked everything to reach Pope Francis and receive his blessing. Scores of activists had been rounded up by the secret police to prevent them attending mass, but Aymara and three other activists managed to evade capture and one of them was able to reach His Holiness.

In April 2016 she was interviewed in the Sun Herald and spoke of what she was thinking on September 20, 2015 when she joined three others shouting freedom and sought the Pope's blessing. “In my heart, I was hurting,” Nieto said in an interview last week. “I was hurting watching my neighbors who didn’t have food for their children to eat. There is too much pain to see.”

Text of decision by Cuban court that reveals political nature of the trial

She was arbitrarily detained on July 12, 2016 and would not see her family in freedom again until July 12, 2017. She had been the victim of a political prosecution that punished her for speaking critically of the socialist system and passing out information.

Aymara Nieto with her mom when she returned home in July 2017

The next time Aymara was taken by the secret police she was beaten and tortured. Her crime: trying to be a poll watcher during a regime run vote on March 11, 2018. The effort to stop the poll watchers, although poll watching is permitted under current electoral law in Cuba, is an outrage.

Torturan bajo el sol,esposada y dentro de la patrulla @DamadBlanco Aymara Nieto #NoAlVotoFraude #RevolucionEsRepresion @ForoDyL

— Berta Soler (@bertasolerf) March 11, 2018

Ladies in White leader Berta Soler tweeted that Cuban State Security "tortured Lady in White Aymara Nieto [placing her] under the sun, handcuffed inside a patrol car."  Targeting independent poll watchers was also  repeated by the secret police in 2019 during the so-called constitutional referendum. 

On May 6, 2018 the secret police raided Aymara's home, beat her up and  took her. Aymara by that time had joined the Cuba Decide Campaign initiative, was active in both UNPACU and the Ladies in White. She would remain in prison and be subjected to a political show trial and a sentence of four years imposed on this courageous woman.

She is not alone.

Five members of the Ladies in White are now unjustly imprisoned.

There are currently five members of the Ladies in White in prison in Cuba. They are Marta Sánchez, Nieves Matamoros, Yolanda Santana, Xiomara Cruz Miranda and Aymara Nieto. It is also important to remember that their founding leader, Laura Inés Pollán Toledo, died under suspicious circumstances on October 14, 2011.

Below is video from 2017 when Aymara went back home and was reunited with her family. Let us work together to see a second reunion. Please let others know of her plight and share the hashtag #FreeAymaraNieto.

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