Cuban writer and editor Dulce María Sotolongo took to Facebook this Saturday to voice a heart-wrenching complaint about her son, who has been languishing in a Cuban prison for three years without trial. She describes the situation as a continuous denial of due process.
"My son has been imprisoned for three years without a trial, and he is consistently denied due process, as if he had committed murder or a crime against state security. In that time, he has perhaps met with his lawyer once, and even then, it was rushed," Sotolongo expressed.
The lawyer hired by the family has not only visited her son infrequently but also failed to take action on the day his trial was postponed.
"On the day the trial was suspended, I didn't hear his voice. He could have argued that my son had a minor dependent or that his behavior in prison was good, or found some legal loophole to at least get him out," the mother lamented.
With a bitter irony, Sotolongo noted that it was a public defender—not the paid attorney—who managed to temporarily halt the proceedings by identifying a technicality due to poor prosecution work.
"God bless public defenders. They have nothing to lose, and one of them, a young woman, was able to stop a trial because of a technicality, a failure on the prosecution's part, but now those who had a lawyer from the start of their process are the ones suffering," she wrote.
Sotolongo, who has nearly four decades of experience as an editor, draws a comparison between her professional life and the anguish she endures as a mother.
"As an editor, I have never been offended in almost forty years of my career when a writer politely calls to ask something. I understand the anxiety of publishing a book, but it's not life or death. The freedom of a human being is. Every day in jail counts," she asserted.
The writer details the exhaustion from an interminable wait: she tries not to bother the lawyer, stays away from journalists, and feels completely ignored by the authorities.
"I no longer care if one day they make me disappear or threaten me—things that have never happened. Clearly, they ignore me. I do not exist," she wrote.
The case highlights a pattern of prolonged detentions without judicial process, widely documented by human rights organizations in Cuba.
In April 2026, Justice 11J reported that 775 people remained political prisoners on the island, with 338 connected to the July 11, 2021 protests.
Prisoners Defenders recorded an all-time high of 1,260 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Cuba in May 2026, with allegations of torture, assaults, and death threats.
Sotolongo concludes her message by referencing writer and former political prisoner Ángel Santiesteban-Prats, who was placed under house arrest in June 2026 as a precautionary measure for charges he denies.
"I'm really on the edge, but I trust in God. Freedom for my son and his fellow cause members, and for all prisoners who have not been afforded due process. Blessed are we who mourn, Santiesteban, as your book says," she concluded.
Understanding Cuba's Legal System and Human Rights Issues
Why has Dulce María Sotolongo's son been imprisoned for so long without trial?
Sotolongo's son has been held without trial for three years due to a systematic denial of due process, a situation not uncommon in Cuba where political prisoners often face prolonged detention without judicial proceedings.
What role did the public defender play in Sotolongo's son's case?
A public defender, not the lawyer hired by the family, was able to temporarily halt the legal process by uncovering a technical error made by the prosecution.
What are the broader implications of cases like Sotolongo's son's in Cuba?
Cases such as Sotolongo's son's highlight a broader pattern of human rights abuses in Cuba, where many political prisoners are held for extended periods without trial, often facing inhumane treatment.