Cuban prisoner of conscience Silverio Portal Contreras lost vision in one eye after two strokes, and brutal beating now losing vision in other eye

“Don’t believe anything they tell you. I stand firm in the sense that either they set me free or I’ll be carried out of here dead.” - Silverio Portal Contreras, October 13, 2020

Lucinda González and prisoner of conscience Silverio Portal Contreras

 

Madrid based NGO Prisoners Defenders earlier this month reported that there were 139 political prisoners in Cuba, and that there are 11,000 Cubans, not affiliated with opposition groups, jailed on the Orwellian charge of “pre-crime.” 

An urgent case of a Cuban prisoner of conscience currently unfolding is that of Silverio Portal Contreras.

Amnesty International on August 26, 2019 recognized “Silverio Portal Contreras, former activist with the Ladies in White, [who] is serving a 4-year sentence for “contempt” and “public disorder” a prisoner of conscience. According to a court document, Silverio was arrested on the 20 June 2016 in Old Havana after shouting “Down Fidel Castro, down Raúl...” The document states that the behavior of the accused is particularly offensive because it took place in a touristic area.” … “According to Silverio’s wife, Lucinda González, before his arrest he had campaigned against collapsing dilapidated buildings in Havana.”

He suffered from epilepsy and hypertension before prison, conditions that worsened after he suffered two strokes, lost vision in one eye after a brutal beating. He is quickly losing vision in the other eye after being diagnosed with diabetes. 

Silverio spoke with his family on October 13, 2020 after more than three months of being denied phone calls at the 1580 Prison in San Miguel del Patron, Havana. 

Throughout their conversation, Lucinda says Silverio had a prison guard standing next to him. He told her: “Don’t believe anything they tell you. I stand firm in the sense that either they set me free or I’ll be carried out of here dead.”