Young man sentenced to one year prison sentence over remarks against Raúl and Fidel Castro

On September 27th, during the activities organized for the anniversary of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), a young man derogatorily referred to the figures of Raúl and Fidel Castro in the midst of one of the festivities. According to the activist, “This led to someone denouncing him”, although this later was not presented as the reason for the accusation. According to activist Hernández Carrillo, “They arrested him and kept him in a police unit in the municipality of Trinidad where he resides. There the authorities finally accused him of the crime of contempt of authority.” The activist went on to state that, “They sentenced him to a year's imprisonment in a trial that was clearly secret, behind closed doors, almost immediately. They did not speak of the words he dedicated to the rulers, but of disrespect to the authorities. They arrested him on the 27th and presented him to the court on October 4th .” According to the family of the convicted young man, he is in the Nieves Morejon prison in Sancti Spíritus. ""We learned about the case many days later because the wife had no way to communicate with us,"" said the activist. ""As a trade unionist he was very active in this area where he lives. The regime's authorities are concerned that the youth are determined to bring about a change of system in Cuba. His work as a trade unionist caused him to lose his licenses as a private driver. He had long been a target for abuse. The first thing they did was to suspend his work permit and then to suspend his driver's license," the activist explained"