The NGO denounces that the regime is once again mixing common criminals with opposition members.
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, March 27, 2026 / The organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) raised to 23 this Friday the number of political prisoners released in Cuba since the regime announced, two weeks ago, a process agreed to with the Vatican to release 51 inmates.
According to the NGO, most of those released so far are protesters from 11 July 2021, ’11J’, the largest anti-government protest on the island. Many of them were serving sentences of between six and 18 years for charges commonly used by the Cuban repressive apparatus: public disorder, contempt, assault, and sedition.
PD also questioned the true scope of the measure. The day before, the organization denounced on social media that not all of the 51 released prisoners were political prisoners, a situation, it emphasized, that had already occurred in January 2025. At that time, of the 553 prisoners released, “only 40%” – 219 people – were imprisoned for political reasons, while the rest were common criminals.
The NGO went further, asserting that among the released common criminals was at least one person convicted of murder, in addition to others sentenced for robbery and other common crimes. The complaint points to a practice Havana has used before: inflating the figures for humanitarian gestures by including cases unrelated to political repression.
Cuba ended February with 1,214 people detained for political reasons
The first prison releases coincided with the Cuban government’s announcement that it had begun talks with representatives of the US administration, although authorities have not publicly linked the two moves.
In any case, these are not pardons. Those released receive a prison benefit that allows them to leave prison without their sentence being extinguished. That is, they remain under sanction and subject to compliance with certain requirements for the remainder of their sentence.
The data comes at a time of escalating repression on the island. Cuba ended February with 1,214 people detained for political reasons, according to the latest monthly report from Prisoners Defenders. This is the highest figure recorded by the organization since it began documenting the situation of Cuban political prisoners.
This number once again illustrates the scale of the repressive wave unleashed after 11 July 2021, when hundreds of Cubans were convicted in trials criticized by international organizations and marred by a lack of due process. While the regime presents these releases as a sign of openness, the data suggests otherwise: prison remains one of its primary tools of control.
Most of those who have benefited so far are protesters from 11 July 2021
The list of those released includes Ibrahín Ariel González Hodelin, 26, sentenced to nine years in Mar Verde prison, in Santiago de Cuba; Ariel Pérez Montesino, 52, sentenced to 10 years in Guanajay, Artemisa; Juan Pablo Martínez Monterrey, 32, with 11 years in Ceiba 5, Artemisa; Ronald García Sánchez, 33, sentenced to 14 years in Toledo 2, Marianao; Adael Jesús Leyva Díaz, 29, with 13 years in Zone 0 of Combinado del Este; Oscar Bárbaro Bravo Cruzata, 27, sentenced to 13 years in La Lima, Guanabacoa; José Luis Sánchez Tito, 34, with 16 years in Combinado del Este; Roberto Ferrer Gener, 52, sentenced to 15 years in that same prison; Deyvis Javier Torres Acosta, 33 years old, with 10 years in Valle Grande, and Yussuan Villalba Sierra, 35 years old, also sentenced to 10 years in a forced labor detachment of the Combinado del Este; Eduardo Álvarez Rigal, 36 years old, sentenced to 13 years in La Lima, and Wilmer Moreno Suárez, 37 years old, with one of the highest sentences on the list: 18 years in Zone 0.
Also listed are Frank Aldama Rodríguez, 33, sentenced to 16 years in Combinado del Este; Miguel Enrique Girón Velázquez, 29, with 11 years in La Aguada youth prison in Holguín; Hansel Felipe Arbolay Prim, 32, sentenced to 10 years in prison 1580 in San Miguel del Padrón; Jorge Vallejo Venegas, 39, with 15 years in La Lima; Luis Esteffani Hernández Valdés, 34, sentenced to six years in Ho Chi Minh, Bainoa, Jaruco; Franklin Reymundo Fernández Rodríguez, 25, with nine years in the Holguín provincial prison; Yunier Sánchez Rodríguez, 39, sentenced to 11 years in Valle Grande; Carlos Pérez Cosme, 38, with 10 years in Toledo 2; Felipe Almirall, 65, sentenced to nine years in La Lima; Lester Ayala Alarcón, 40 years old, with 10 years in Kilo 9, Camagüey, and Liván Hernández Lago, 51 years old, sentenced to seven years in Ceiba 5.
The list also confirms the weight of Havana and Artemisa in the repression after 11J, with several of the toughest prisons and forced labor camps in the country concentrating a good part of these cases.
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