Cuba’s Revolving Door of Repression: Exposing Injustice and U.S. Policy Missteps
The Cuban dictatorship has once again activated its revolving door of repression. Following its January 14 announcement of penal benefits for 553 individuals, Democratic Spaces demands the immediate and unconditional release of over 1,000 political prisoners unjustly detained for exercising fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression, press, and association.
So far, a few individuals have been released under conditional parole, approximately 17 of whom participated in the July 11, 2021 protests. However, they have been threatened with being sent back to prison to serve the remainder of their sentences if they "fail to maintain good conduct"—a phrase used to criminalize the exercise of fundamental human rights. Hundreds of political prisoners remain incarcerated, including prisoners of conscience such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo Pérez (Osorbo), José Daniel Ferrer García, Loreto Hernández García, Roberto Pérez Fonseca, Félix Navarro, Sayli Navarro, and Luis Robles.
Political prisoners in Cuba endure cruel, inhumane, and degrading conditions, including physical and psychological torture, extreme isolation, denial of medical care, and brutal assaults. Many, such as Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas,have died due to deliberate state actions. The Cuban regime must end its repression and dismantle the institutions, laws, and practices that criminalize dissent. Depriving any Cuban of freedom for independent thought is a moral outrage, a barbaric act, and a grave violation of human rights. Ideas and words are not crimes—except in dictatorships.
Regarding the Biden administration’s decision to remove Cuba's military elite from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, such a move grants impunity and a blank check to a regime that continues to support terrorism on a global scale. For example, the Cuban regime:
Continues to support Colombian terrorist groups such as the ELN and FARC.
Backs Nicolás Maduro’s oppressive regime by providing advisors, personnel, and methods of torture and repression against the Venezuelan people.
Actively assists Putin’s regime in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Supports Hamas.
Provides asylum to U.S. fugitives.
The individuals imprisoned in Cuba for exercising their human rights should never have been criminalized.
Let us stand united in demanding justice and freedom for all those who have suffered under Cuba’s oppressive regime. No one should face imprisonment for their beliefs or for speaking out against injustice. It is our collective responsibility to advocate for their immediate and unconditional release, to uphold the principles of human dignity, and to remind the world that freedom of thought and expression are universal rights that must be protected everywhere.