SAYLI NAVARRO WILL NOT LEAVE CUBA

Saylí Navarro Álvarez is a Cuban Prisoner of Conscience and pro democratic leader of the Pedro Luis Boitel Democracy Movement. She was sentenced to 8 years in prison in April 2022. In this message dated from March 18, 2023 from the Prison Mixta de Mujeres in Matanzas (Mixed Women’s Prison in Matanzas) she ratifies her position not to abandon Cuba. In recent months the State Security (political police) has been pressuring political prisoners to accept forceful expatriation of Cuba as a condition to be released from prison. Sayli states in this message that her father Félix Navarro also refuses to leave Cuba.

The Cuban regime has previously forced political prisoners into exile in 1979 when hundreds of prisoners of conscience were released, including some plantados, prisoners known for their strong opposition to Fidel Castro and for refusing to participate in so-called “rehabilitation programmes”. Also in 2010 the regime forced most of the political prisoners of the Black Spring into exile with the exception of José Daniel Ferrer and a small group who did not yield to being forcefully expatriated from Cuba.