Prisoners Defenders and the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights denounce the increase in repression in November
14ymedio, Havana, December 9, 2025 – Cuba closed November with 1,192 political prisoners, the highest figure ever recorded by Prisoners Defenders. In its report published this Tuesday, December 9, the organization denounces that repression is the only policy used by the Cuban regime to survive amid the country’s economic, social, and humanitarian collapse.
The NGO, founded in Madrid to protect human rights on the Island and in other totalitarian regimes, documents 19 new arbitrary detentions that occurred that same month with recurring patterns. Arrests without warrants, forced disappearances, incommunicado detention, and criminal charges as vague as “disobedience,” “contempt,” or “public disorder”—used to punish opinions expressed on social media, verbal statements, or protests over the lack of basic services and food—confirm a form of “State terrorism” aimed at silencing any gesture of dissent.
Repression remains the policy used by the Cuban regime to survive amid the country’s collapse
Among the new cases is that of Dr. Pedro Bauta Gómez, a well-known psychiatrist from Holguín, who was arrested after saying publicly that there is no transportation for the sick but there is for the Party. Since then, his whereabouts are unknown, and he has been denied legal counsel and contact with his family.
Also notable is the case of William Sosa Marrero, detained for critical Facebook posts and accused of “pre-criminal penal disobedience,” a provision in the new Penal Code that replaces the former concept of “social dangerousness” while preserving preventive persecution against citizens who have committed no crime.
The organization denounces the criminalization of simple neighbors in Las Tunas detained for shouting slogans or painting critical graffiti, or of protesters in Bayamo arrested for peacefully protesting the lack of governmental response, while families live in terror and do not even dare to complain for fear of reprisals.
Among the most alarming issues are incarcerated minors. The report notes that 33 adolescents have been convicted for political reasons between 2021 and 2025—10 of them confined in adult prisons or penitentiary centers called “schools,” and 23 under police surveillance and constant threats. Many were arrested during the social uprising of 11 July 2021, tortured, and subjected to extreme overcrowding and violence, in direct violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
July 11 remains the most significant moment of repression; 409 protesters are still imprisoned
In 2025 this pattern continues, with cases such as Eliane Martín, detained at age 16 while pregnant, with no information available on her location or health status; or Leroy Hernández Escalona, imprisoned after participating in a peaceful protest, whom relatives say is being held in a “torture center” in Las Tunas. These cases show that neither childhood nor pregnancy acts as a limit to political punishment in Cuba.
The 11th of July 2021 (11J) remains the most important moment of repression. Since then, 409 protesters continue to be imprisoned, and 334 are serving sentences outside prison under threats. Even those who are no longer behind bars live under a regime of harassment and fear, as illustrated by numerous cases included in the report.
In total, 743 Cubans continue to be punished for that day, which marked the largest citizen protest in more than six decades, among them 13 women—mothers and workers—who are being punished with particular cruelty in order to suppress independent female leadership. Among them are Lizandra Góngora, imprisoned in Los Colonos prison and separated from her five children by a 14-year sentence for demanding basic freedoms; and María Cristina Garrido, a poet imprisoned and subjected to constant harassment for having raised her voice against the Government.
The regime also targets artists. Eleven remain in prison and together face more than 137 years in sentences for making music, poetry, or critical art. Among them are the rapper Maykel Castillo Osorbo, two-time Latin Grammy winner for Patria y Vida, who has endured numerous solitary confinement cells and threats of transfer far from his family; and the visual artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, held in Guanajay prison, where he has suffered chikungunya fever and diarrhea without medical care. He recently began a voluntary hunger strike to demand the freedom of all prisoners of conscience.
The country’s health crisis—worsened inside the prisons—makes the situation even more severe. Currently, 461 political prisoners suffer from serious illnesses without treatment, and 41 have mental disorders without psychiatric care, figures that show that physical and psychological deterioration is a deliberate component of the repression.
Meanwhile, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) reported at least 225 repressive actions on the island in the month of November, of which 18 were arbitrary arrests and 207 were other abuses.
Among the most common violations committed by the Cuban regime last month were illegal home detentions, abuses against political prisoners, threats, and police summonses. Most of these repressive actions occurred in the provinces of Havana, Holguín, Guantánamo, and Sancti Spíritus.
The country’s health crisis—exacerbated inside prisons—continues to worsen the situation of political detainees
“The regime maintains repression in a context of a deepening social crisis, without medicines or food to alleviate the health situation caused by several simultaneous epidemics. The authorities offer no solutions and, at the same time, continue repressing any political or civic initiative,” the OCDH stated in its report published Monday.
Repression in November once again extended beyond the island’s borders, as the government directly threatened—by name—18 journalists and contributors to the digital media outlet El Toque, located outside the country.
“We are deeply concerned by the increasing use of blacklists to threaten exiled activists in various countries. We hold the Cuban regime responsible for any situation these individuals may face,” added the OCDH.
So far this year, at least 2,883 repressive actions have been recorded, including 651 illegal home detentions and 508 arbitrary arrests.
Prisoners Defenders also highlighted other shameful records for Cuba in 2025: the island became the number one country in the world for cases of arbitrary detention, according to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; the second worldwide in terms of penal population; and fourth globally in the number of urgent actions issued by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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