State Security Threatens Jail for Oppositional Farmer and Former Political Prisoner in Las Tunas

Last week, an agent of the State Security and an officer from the Revolutionary National Police showed up at the home of Yandier García Labrada, a 42-year-old dissident and former political prisoner, in Manatí, Las Tunas. They warned him that he would face imprisonment once again if he continued his political activism.

The warning was made public by his brother, Irán Almaguer Labrada, who is also an activist. He described the visit as a direct threat against his brother's activism. "We are activists of the Christian Liberation Movement, and our mission is to advocate for our country's freedom," Almaguer Labrada told Martí Noticias.

According to Almaguer Labrada, the authorities explicitly told García Labrada that if he persisted with his activities, he would be sent back to prison. This harassment is a response to García Labrada's work with the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) in Las Tunas, where he educates the public about the organization's efforts for peaceful political change in Cuba.

In light of the threat, his brother reiterated the movement's stance: "We are activists of the Christian Liberation Movement, and our mission is to advocate for our country's freedom."

Known as "El Vaquero" due to his signature cowboy hat, García Labrada was released on January 16, 2025, after serving four years and three months of a five-year sentence. However, this release was under a revocable extrapenal license, part of the mass releases mediated by the Vatican and announced by the regime on January 14, 2025. This condition leaves him vulnerable to reincarceration if the authorities decide he has violated any restrictions, as the recent threat demonstrates: the regime releases prisoners under threat, keeping sentences in place.

Previously employed by the Flora and Fauna Company at the Bahía de Nuevas Grandes-La Isleta Ecological Reserve, García Labrada was arrested on October 6, 2020, while waiting in line to buy food in Manatí. He protested the way goods were handled, and others joined him, but he was the only one kept in preventive detention.

After spending nine months without a trial, he was sentenced in July 2021 to the maximum penalty of five years in a telematic trial described as "riddled with irregularities."