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More than 300 Cubans and organizations from both inside and outside the country have signed an urgent appeal for the freedom of political prisoners in Cuba, calling for coordinated action from civil society and the international community in response to the regime's repression.
The statement, shared on social media by the Cuban intellectual and activist Anamely Ramos, was created collectively and supported by political prisoners, families of inmates, activists, scholars, and artists.
In the text, the signatories emphasize that Cuba cannot remain the great absent in the regional human rights agenda while other authoritarian countries, such as Venezuela and Nicaragua, announce release processes, albeit without guarantees or transparency.
The agency EFE recalled that Cuba released 553 people last year as part of an agreement with the United States, mediated by the Vatican, during the final days of Joe Biden's administration.
Different NGOs criticized that process for being opaque and incomplete, and reported that more than half of those released were not political prisoners, emphasized the news agency.
In this new appeal, the signatories denounce that the country holds more than a thousand political prisoners, a disproportionate figure that the regime tries to downplay in front of the international community.
They recalled that between January and March 2025, the Cuban state promised to release 553 prisoners, but independent organizations only documented about 250 releases, leaving hundreds of individuals unaccounted for and perpetuating the harassment of their families.
The text demands that international organizations, democratic governments, the media, and the Vatican take a firm stance to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and an end to the criminalization of dissent.
Additionally, the document includes a direct message to the mothers, fathers, and family members of the imprisoned, acknowledging the weariness, fear, and daily violence they face.
He calls on them to maintain a coordinated and supported presence, without allowing the regime to use their children as bargaining chips or instruments of political blackmail.
The statement concludes by emphasizing that this is a pivotal moment for collective action and not for waiting on unilateral gestures from those in power.
"It is about naming the injustice, pressing hard, and not letting this historic moment pass," the document states.
Among the signatories are numerous political prisoners from the historical exile, human rights defenders, independent journalists, and Cuban artists living abroad.
The list prominently features prisoners from the Plantados group, historical dissidents such as José Daniel Ferrer and Martha Beatriz Roque, as well as artists like Tania Bruguera.
The text was shared on social media as an open initiative to continue gathering support.
This new claim arises in a context where the president of the United States, Donald Trump, issued a new direct warning to the Cuban regime, stating that “there will be no more oil or money” coming from Venezuela to the island and suggesting that Havana “make a deal before it’s too late.”
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