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The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) United Nations declared that 49 protesters from July 11, 2021 (11J) in Cuba were detained “arbitrarily for political and ideological reasons and without due process or defense.”
The ruling, issued after a process in which the Cuban regime had the right to defense, was driven by the organization Prisoners Defenders, based in Madrid, which presented the complaints within the framework of cases 23 and 149 of 2021.
The international organization also acknowledged that the prisoners suffered from “multiple crimes against humanity”, such as forced disappearances, torture, prolonged isolation, and serious violations of their human rights.
Consequently, the UN urged the Cuban regime to release and compensate those affected immediately.
Although this recognition supports the opposition's accusations on the island, Cubans assert that the number of arbitrary detentions on July 11 greatly exceeds the figure confirmed by the United Nations.
"The regime tacitly agreed with the arguments and evidence presented by Prisoners Defenders," the organization stated in a statement, explaining that Havana did not present a defense before the GTDA on this occasion.
The working group also reported that neither the detainees nor their families have copies of the arrest or preventive detention orders, and that several were tried in military courts, which constitutes a violation of due process according to international standards.
With these 49 new cases, the GTDA ranks Cuba as the country with the highest number of arbitrary detentions in the world since 2019, with 93 recognized victims by the United Nations. Following Cuba are Egypt (73) and Bahrain (70).
Similarly, Cuba, Turkey, and Nicaragua are the only three countries condemned by the organization in mass opinions, that is, with more than ten victims per resolution.
The report details that, in the case of Cuba, repression corresponds to a systematic and collective pattern.
The detentions are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a model of political and social control where the police forces, the prosecutor's office, and the courts operate under the same repressive framework of the State.
"In Cuba, the prison system operates as a mechanism of social control and state terrorism," denounced Prisoners Defenders.
"Prisons are punishments, but they are also intimidating messages for society as a whole," it notes.
The report also places Cuba in fourth place worldwide for enforced disappearances, according to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, with 193 documented cases since 2012.
Unlike other countries where disappearances are attributed to criminal groups or mafias, in Cuba "the only mafia responsible is the government itself," denounced Prisoners Defenders.
The GTDA emphasized that the cases in Cuba violate at least six of the eleven crimes against humanity defined by the Rome Statute.
Between 2019 and 2025, the UN has adopted 93 opinions on arbitrary detentions in Cuba, all with unfavorable conclusions for the regime.
Prisoners Defenders has represented the victims in 87% of those cases, establishing a historic record of convictions against the Cuban state.
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