“Yes, it changed, after the 11th of July [2021], there was a big awakening. It had been hidden in people for a long time because before, everyone had been afraid to do something. Even I, and I do a lot of things, sometimes am afraid. I don’t know what exactly caused it, if it was the need, the constant hunger, or just that everyone got tired of all those lies, but on the 11th of July, people said it was enough. On the 11th of July, the awakening happened, and it was so real that to this day the parks, and everything else are still filled with the police. They keep the watch all day every day because they’re afraid people could rise again”.
“I’ve been imprisoned two times. I’m still on probation until the 28th of November from the last one. That one was the worst, because there I went on a hunger strike there for the same reason, they had put me in prison. I was threatened by my fellow prisoners, abused by the security guards, I had to do special labor, and then I just couldn’t do it anymore and I tried to kill myself. I tried it twice because I was suffering so bad. I couldn’t think clear, and I saw it as the only way out of the suffering for me and my family. I was at my lowest but thank God I failed.”
“In 2013 and 2015, as prisoners we had to clean things in MININT (Ministry of the Interior). That was when I realized how it really is with the corruption, the misuse of power, the abuse of their uniform and what they used it for. It was also there where I first found out about the opposition; a fellow prisoner told me about it. That information changed my life. One day, when I finally finished my sentence, I looked at all the things I used to clean in MININT, with all the corruption around and I left. I knocked at a door and said that I want to fight for the human rights.”
Keilyllí de la Mora Valle was born the 31 of February of 1993, in the Cienfuegos Province in Cuba, during the Special Period. She was always passionate about sports when she was little, and that´s what lead her to start studying a sports school. After a few periods of trying to adapt in various schools, she dropped out at the age of 17. After that her problems with the police and the State Security started just because she had dated 2 men who happened to be foreigners.
When she was 20, she was imprisoned for the first time. After suffering a lot of abuse from the police, she decided to start fighting for the human rights to be respected in Cuba, which led her to another 9 months of deprivation of liberty. This time, she decided to go on a hunger strike. Later she tried to kill herself because of constant abuse and torture from the police´s side, that she had to endure daily. She is now living back in her hometown Cienfuegos and she´s a member of The Patriotic Union of Cuba.
