The NGO Amnesty International demanded this Monday the “immediate freedom for people imprisoned for political reasons” in Cuba, on the first anniversary of the release process in which, according to the island authorities, 553 people benefited.
In a statement, the London-based organization stated that the releases were marked by their “opacity, lack of public information, absence of clear criteria and use of arbitrary conditions, as well as the devastating psychological impact on families.”
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The process was part of an agreement between Havana and Washington, during the last days of the administration of the Democrat, Joe Biden, and mediated by the Vatican.
Various Cuban and international human rights NGOs criticized the releases. They considered that they were carried out in a “
opaque, incomplete, unjust and fraudulent” context. In addition, they warned that more than half of those benefited were common inmates and not prisoners for political reasons.
In that sense, Amnesty International recalled that “some people released from prison in 2025 were forced into exile and others returned to prison, highlighting the persistence of entrenched authoritarian practices and the absence of guarantees to exercise human rights within the country without fear of reprisal”.
Among them is the opponent José Daniel Ferrer, exiled in the United States after having re-entered prison on the island, and also dissident Félix Navarro, who remains behind bars after a court annulled his release.
“Cuban authorities have an obligation to guarantee the full and unconditional freedom of all prisoners of conscience: Sayli Navarro Álvarez; Félix Navarro; Loreto Hernández García; Donaida Pérez Paseiro; Roberto Pérez Fonseca; Maykel Castillo Pérez (Maykel Osorbo) and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara should not spend another day in prison,” said Ana Piquer, Americas regional director at Amnesty International, in the press release.
