Cuban Prison Officials Accused of Using Sexual Violence as State Torture

Human‑rights groups report that Cuba’s security forces are employing sexual violence as a tool of intimidation and torture against political detainees. In April 2024, political prisoner Julián Manuel Mazola Beltrán, arrested for his participation in the July 11, 2021 protests, was subjected to an attempted rape in the maximum‑security prison of Guanajay, Artemisa. The assault was carried out by a common inmate known as “El Gago de San José,” who allegedly acted with the complicity of political‑police officer Javier Reboso, who sent a mocking message to the victim. Mazola was sentenced to only three additional months for the attack, prompting him and fellow prisoners to begin a hunger strike demanding harsher punishment for the assailant. The case is presented as part of a broader pattern in which Cuban prison authorities allegedly use sexual violence to suppress dissent, according to testimonies collected by ADN Cuba from inmates, families, and human‑rights experts.