Arianna Lopez Roque

• Name: Arianna Lopez Roque
• Position: Opposition activist
• Deprived of liberty from: The 11th of June 2021
• Judgment: Sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment
• Country: Cuba
• Place of confinement: Guamajal prison
• Health condition: Delicate condition
• Torture complaint: Subject to torture and inhumane prison conditions

Arianna López, is the director of the Julio Machado Academy of Civic Studies.

She was arrested on 11 J for the widespread protests in Cuba where they demanded respect for human rights, freedom of thought, she demonstrated against the lack of food and the medical crisis

The academy directed by Arianna López in Placetas, in the same province of Villa Clara, organizes workshops “to educate Cubans about democracy and human rights”

She is imprisoned for participating in the July 11 protests in Placetas, Villa Clara, along with her husband Mitzael Díaz.

Opposition leader Ariana López Roque has been subjected to brutal beatings, in retaliation for the strong harangue she starred in in the Guamajal prison, in Santa Clara, demanding the release of political prisoners.

Arianna López was dragged to the prison yard and there she was waiting for an entire garrison armed with tonfas, hoses… and kicks, piñazos, moral offenses, they dragged her, spit on her, kicked her in the presence of the entire prison population and they did it with the aim of trying to terrorize those imprisoned there. From there she was taken to the punishment cell, where she received another beating. The brave political prisoner never stopped chanting slogans against the Cuban regime so the guards did not stop beating her. She was sentenced to eight years in prison, like her husband.

She assured that she will remain firm in her principles and that she will not accept blackmail from the dictatorship that holds her hostage. In addition, she refuses to wear the common area uniform and to take part in the so-called ‘re-education plan’ imposed by the Cuban regime.

From the Guamajal women’s prison, in the province of Villa Clara, the inmate wrote a letter titled “My commitment” that was clandestinely removed from that penitentiary center. My commitment has to be strictly to the freedom of Cuba and it has to be consistent with what I think and do… I will never accept any pact or blackmail… and I am willing to give my life if necessary in this fight”…”Giving up or abandoning has never been my option. Homeland and life. Down with the Castro dictatorship”.

Observations

Fernando Adolfo Iglesias is an Argentinian politician, journalist, writer and former volleyball coach. Since 2017, he has been a deputy for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires for Cambiemos, currently Together for Change. Between 2007 and 2011 he had occupied a bank representing that same district by the Civic Coalition.