The organization explained that seven new names were added to its list and the same number were released from prison
EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, March 13, 2025 — The NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) reported this Thursday that at the end of February, it had registered 1,150 political prisoners in Cuba, the same number as its previous monthly report.
The Madrid-based organization explained that seven new names had entered its list and the same number had been released from prison after fully serving the sentence or measure imposed.
PD, one of the main sources of information on the registry of political prisoners in Cuba, still maintains 230 individuals on its list who were released between January and February, arguing that their sentences have not been served, but rather that they are on conditional release.
These individuals were released following the Cuban government’s decision to release 553 inmates convicted of “various crimes” after Washington removed Havana from the list of countries that promote terrorism.
There are 715 individuals “with serious medical conditions and 61 prisoners with serious mental health disorders, all of them without adequate medical or psychiatric treatment”
The Cuban government, which never publicly linked the list and the releases, announced two days ago that it had concluded the process “successfully.”
The measure was described as a “fraud” by Prisoners Defenders and criticized by several human rights NGOs, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Justicia 11J, Cubalex, and the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH).
The monthly report by PD indicates that its registry includes 715 people “with serious medical conditions and 61 prisoners with serious mental health disorders, all of whom lack adequate medical or psychiatric treatment.”
It explained that 33 minors remain on the list, of whom 29 are serving sentences and four are being prosecuted “with precautionary measures without any judicial protection.” The minimum age for imprisonment in Cuba is 16.
Prisoners Defenders reported that its registry includes 222 people accused of sedition, when in most cases they participated in peaceful protests. It added that 219 “have already been sentenced to an average of ten years of imprisonment each” (including 15 minors).
The NGO also highlighted the treatment suffered by the 121 women included on its list.
“Cuba has had a total of 1,813 political prisoners in its jails” since July 2021, when the largest anti-government protests in decades were recorded on the island, according to the NGO statement.
Translated by Tomás A.
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