Political Prisoner Saylí Navarro Punished After Exposing Father's Beating in Agüica Prison

Saylí Navarro, a political prisoner, faced disciplinary action last Sunday by the authorities at La Bellotex women's prison in Matanzas. This came after she exposed the beating her father, fellow political prisoner Félix Navarro, endured at Agüica prison in Colón, Matanzas Province.

Sonia Álvarez Campillo, a member of the Ladies in White and mother of Saylí, revealed this information after a phone call with her daughter. Álvarez Campillo, who is also Félix's wife, shared, "During a phone call, Saylí informed me that on May 4, she was summoned to the prison's administration to be told that a disciplinary measure was imposed on her for reporting the beating that Yoslen Pedroso, the notorious figure at Agüica prison, gave to her father Félix Navarro."

The punishment involved reducing the good behavior sentence reduction from 60 days to only 30. "Instead of the 60-day reduction she was due, she will only receive a one-month reduction. The two months will not be deducted," Álvarez Campillo clarified.

The brutal attack that led to this penalty occurred on April 8, when Major Yoslén Pedroso Sotolongo, head of Internal Order at Agüica, assaulted Félix Navarro, leaving him with visible marks on his face and body. Following this, the 72-year-old dissident was placed in solitary confinement.

Navarro's Determination to Speak Out

Saylí learned about the incident during a prison visit to her father and later recounted it to Iván Hernández Carrillo, a family friend and former member of the Group of 75 from the Black Spring, which helped bring the issue to public attention.

This isn't the first time the regime has retaliated against Saylí for her efforts to speak out from behind bars. Her requests to transition to a minimum-security regime have been denied three times due to her refusal to accept the ideological indoctrination of the so-called "penal reeducation."

In 2022, she was threatened with a transfer to a prison in Guantánamo and had her phone privileges revoked for 15 days after reporting due process violations. In January 2025, her sentence adjustment was delayed for six months due to a fast she held in commemoration of July 11 and for making public allegations from prison.

A History of Resistance

Both father and daughter were arrested on July 12, 2021, in Perico, Matanzas, and sentenced in March 2022: Félix received nine years and Saylí eight, for their involvement in the July 11, 2021 protests.

Félix Navarro, who founded the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy, was conditionally released on January 18, 2025, as part of an agreement between the Cuban regime, Washington, and the Vatican. However, he was rearrested on April 29, 2025, for allegedly leaving his municipality without judicial permission on seven occasions.

In late April 2026, Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, Eloy Ricardo Domínguez Martínez, visited the imprisoned father and daughter, offering them exile as a solution. Both refused the forced exile, choosing to remain in Cuba.

Amnesty International has recognized Saylí Navarro as a prisoner of conscience since October 2024, calling for her immediate release alongside her father.