Nelson Caballero Díaz, a 24-year-old Cuban father of two, has initiated a hunger strike while imprisoned in Camagüey. He has been held since October 18 after protesting the frequent power outages in Cuba. Caballero Díaz, who has a two-year-old and a two-month-old child, told his wife he would rather die than remain incarcerated for an unjust cause, as detailed in a report by the NGO Cubalex.
Relatives informed Martí Noticias that Caballero Díaz was protesting against power cuts in his community in Jimaguayú. The demonstration was peaceful, involving neighbors banging pots and chanting against the regime. Despite this, he was violently beaten by security forces and informants during his detention, until neighbors intervened to stop the assault.
Following the attack, he was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries. Medical staff advised monitoring for "possible signs of neurological alarm," according to Cubalex. His wife, Daimara Aliaga Rodríguez, learned of his hospitalization the day after his arrest, around 2 a.m., from a case officer named Ali.
"She called me at two-something in the morning, asking if I knew my husband was in the hospital. I told her no, that I was finding out through her," Daimara told Martí Noticias. Caballero was only in the hospital for a day before being transferred to a State Security unit in Camagüey's provincial capital. Daimara has only been allowed to see him once during a brief 10-minute visit.
"They wouldn’t let me bring him food. I went to give him a kiss, and they said time was up," she recounted. The charges against him include assault and "instigation to commit a crime," which are deemed unjust considering his protest was peaceful.
Wider Impact of Energy Crisis
Caballero's case is one of many involving Cubans prosecuted for voicing opposition to the nation's ongoing crisis. Recently, Cuba's Attorney General's Office announced legal actions in Havana, Mayabeque, and Ciego de Ávila against individuals involved in protests over persistent blackouts.
This news comes amid an exacerbated energy crisis following Hurricane Rafael's recent impact, which left much of the country without power due to repeated national electrical grid failures. According to a statement from the Attorney General's Office, protesters face charges of assault, public disorder, and damage, with provisional detention imposed as a precaution.
The Cuban regime's enforcement body emphasized that these incidents involved assaults on authorities and inspectors, resulting in injuries and public disturbances. However, this assertion remains unverified as recent protest footage circulating on social media depicts demonstrators behaving peacefully, without violent conduct beyond shouting and banging pots.