Sulmira Martinez Suffers Cuba’s Archaic Justice System
The 22-year-old ‘influencer’, was accused of calling for protests online
Imprisoned for more than two years and tried five months ago, she has not yet received her sentence.
HAVANA TIMES – Cuban influencer Sulmira Martinez, 22, who has been in prison for 27 months. She has yet to receive the sentence from the trial held five months ago. “The court documents haven’t been sent to the prison,” her mother, Norma Perez, told 14ymedio in despair. “Until the papers arrive, they won’t grant her parole or even a pass, and my daughter has already served more time than required.”
The young woman, known online as Salem Cuba, was tried on November 26 at the Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre, in Havana, after the date had been postponed three times. It was initially set for August amid a heavy police presence. The prosecution requested a 10-year sentence for “contempt” and “crimes against the constitutional order.”
However, according to Norma Perez, the judges spoke of a five-year sentence. They told her the verdict would be ready in 15 days. “How long are these shameless people going to keep this up?” she protests, adding: “It seems the prosecutor disagrees with what the jury said and is appealing.”
In statements to this newspaper, the woman recalled that the prosecution’s charges “contained many lies,” which her daughter denied. Among them was the accusation that she had communicated with a content creator living abroad, and that this person had paid her to carry out protest actions in Cuba.
Her anxiety stems mostly from the fact that without the official document — which she says must be issued by the Supreme Court — her daughter cannot receive any of the benefits she is already eligible for.
Sulmira Martínez was arrested on January 10, 2023, for calling on social media for people to take to the streets in “another July 11.” She was interrogated at Villa Marista, the headquarters of State Security in Havana, where she was filmed giving a “self-confession”, a specialty from that facility. According to her mother, that footage was recorded under false pretenses and was later broadcast on official Cuban television.
Three months later, she was transferred to the El Guatao women’s prison, where she has remained ever since in “preventive detention.” Her case has been denounced by organizations such as Justicia 11J, Cubalex, and Prisoners Defenders.
First published in Spanish by 14ymedio and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.