Cuban activist Eliso Cantillo Gonzalez last week was sentenced in Holguin to 2 years in prison, the result of confrontation with police during which officials violently pushed his elderly mother.
Cantillo, a member of the Eastern Democratic Alliance (ADO) in the town of Antilla -- my father's hometown -- was arrested Aug. 30 at the bus station in Holguin, where he and his mother, Rosa Elia Espinosa, had gone to collect a package of food sent to them by relatives in Havana. Police moved in to seize the package, starting an argument with Cantillo.
When his mother tried to intervene, a police officer shoved her, causing her to faint. Castillo responded by shouting anti-Castro slogans, which earned him a trip to a police station to face a supposed charge of "assault."
On Nov. 7, Castillo, a former political prisoner, was sentenced to 2 years in prison -- a punishment that as another activist said, is the Castro regime's payback to Castillo for his political activism.
"He is one of the most active members of the ADO here in Antilla," said Cristian Toranzo Fundichely.
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