Together, the participating media created the #TODOS platform, a tool based on data journalism that makes releases visible

14ymedio, Havana, 21 January 2025 — A coalition of independent Cuban media outlets is making the #TODOS [ALL] platform available to its audiences, a tool based on data journalism that highlights the releases of political prisoners starting in January 2025.
This website complements and amplifies the monitoring of the process carried out by participating media, activists and civil society organizations such as the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, Prisoners Defenders, Justicia 11J and Cubalex.
The reports of those released are recorded in a database that includes confirmed information from the monitoring civil society organizations have been methodically carrying out for years. The number of political prisoners documented after comparing the records of different civil society organizations so far totals 1,396 people. The list is considered an under-registration, since there may be prisoners who have not made their complaint public. The organizations are constantly working to update this data.
The resulting support allows for the generation of statistical analyses that reveal trends and audit the official account of releases.
The resulting support allows for statistical analyses that reveal trends and audit the official narrative on releases.
The first conclusion that emerges is that the 553 people that the Cuban regime assured its foreign interlocutors it would “release” were not all prosecuted for political reasons. It was suspected that this would be the case when the official statement referred to the beneficiaries of the measure as “prisoners for various reasons”; but this independent record will allow us to see to what extent those detained for political reasons are included, in scenarios before, during and after the social outbreak on 11 July 2021.
The data compiled also show that this is not a “release” but rather a process of leaving prison under legal figures such as “conditional release” and “extra-penal leave,” which oblige those convicted to maintain what the authorities consider “good conduct” as a guarantee of their not being returned to detention centers.
Citizen support is also important to identify released prisoners who do not appear in the records.
It is possible to appreciate that the great majority of those released had served more than half of their sentences, and therefore were entitled to benefits such as those now presented by official propaganda as an exceptional humanitarian act. Likewise, one can observe the frequent use of crimes such as contempt, disobedience and sedition to politically channel citizens who participated in public protests or actively opposed the Communist Party.
#TODOS takes its title from the way in which hundreds of Cuban citizens demand on social media that all politically prosecuted persons be released, and not just a small group. Citizen support is also important in identifying those released from prison who do not appear in the records, which can be done through a form included on the website.
The initiative, initially composed of 14ymedio, Alas Tensas , Árbol Invertido, CiberCuba, El Estornudo, El Toque, Havana Times, La Hora de Cuba, Periodismo de Barrio and Rialta, extends its invitation to other media and projects that wish to join and contribute to the expansion of this tool, which will be relevant as long as there is one person imprisoned in Cuba for their political ideas and actions.
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