Related videos:
A coalition of independent media from Cuba is making available to its audiences the #TODOS platform, a product based on data journalism tools that highlights the release of political prisoners starting from January 2025.
This website complements and enhances the monitoring carried out by participating media, activists, and civil society organizations such as the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, Cuban Prisoners Defenders, Justicia11J, and Cubalex.
Reports of individuals released from prison are recorded in a database that includes consolidated information from the follow-ups that civil society organizations have been systematically conducting for years. The number of political prisoners obtained by cross-referencing records from different civil society organizations currently totals 1,395 individuals. This list is considered an underreporting, as there may be individuals incarcerated who have not publicly disclosed their complaints. The organizations are continually working on updating this data.
The resulting support allows for the generation of statistical analyses that reveal trends and audit the official narrative regarding the releases.
The first conclusion that becomes clear is that the 553 people whom the Cuban regime assured its foreign interlocutors it would "liberate" were not all prosecuted for political reasons. There were suspicions that this would be the case when the official statement referred to the beneficiaries of the measure as "prisoners for various reasons"; however, this independent record will allow us to see to what extent individuals detained for political reasons are included, in the contexts before, during, and after the social uprising on July 11, 2021.
The compiled data also shows that this is not a "release" but rather a process of leaving prison under legal frameworks such as "parole" and "extrapenal leave," which require the sanctioned individuals to maintain what the authorities consider "good behavior" as a guarantee against returning to detention centers.
It is possible to see that the vast majority of those released from prison had served more than half of their sentences, and therefore, they were entitled to benefits that the official propaganda now presents as an exceptional humanitarian act. Likewise, there is a noticeable frequency in the use of offenses such as contempt, disobedience, and sedition to politically target citizens who participated in public protests or actively oppose the Communist Party.
#TODOS takes its name from how hundreds of Cuban citizens demand on social media that all politically processed individuals be released, not just a select few. Citizen support is also crucial for identifying those released who do not appear in official records, which can be done using a form available 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 outlets and projects that wish to join and contribute to the expansion of this product, which will remain relevant as long as there is a person imprisoned in Cuba for their ideas and political actions.
Filed under: