Gálvez Rodríguez worked for government media for 24 years. But in March 2003, as he was working as a freelance reporter in Havana, state security agents arrested him as part of the massive crackdown. He was summarily tried that April under Law 88 for the Protection of Cuba’s National Independence and Economy and given a 14-year prison sentence. The People’s Supreme Tribunal, Cuba’s highest court, upheld the decision a month later.
In 2009, Gálvez Rodríguez, 65, was being held in solitary confinement at Havana’s Combinado del Este Prison, his partner, Irene Viera Silloy, told CPJ. She said the journalist was allowed one family visit every two months. Gálvez Rodríguez suffered from high cholesterol, hypertension, and respiratory problems, according to CPJ research. Viera Silloy said he was also diagnosed with pneumonia.
Gálvez Rodríguez continued to write from prison, Viera Silloy told CPJ. She said prison authorities briefly revoked the journalist’s phone privileges in September after he refused to wear a prison uniform.