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The Cuban regime announced on Thursday the pardon of 2,010 prisoners, presented as a humanitarian gesture in the context of Holy Week. However, human rights organizations denounce that the measure is driven by a financial necessity of the State, not by mercy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) published the statement without providing a list of beneficiaries or a clear timeline for releases, and explicitly excluded those who have committed crimes against authority, leaving out the vast majority of recognized political prisoners.
Activists and human rights experts describe the measure as a drain on prisons: a recurring practice by which the regime releases common inmates to alleviate the collapse of the penitentiary system and reduce costs, without addressing the situation of those detained for political reasons.
According to data from independent organizations, there were 1,214 political prisoners in Cuba at the end of February 2026, a figure that highlights the magnitude of the problem that this pardon does not address.
Among the unresolved cases is that of Christian de Jesús Crespo Álvarez, 16 years old, arrested following the protests in Morón, one of the many minors who remain detained for participating in demonstrations.
From the international political arena, Congressman Carlos Giménez Giménez demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners and warned that the regime's announcement is nothing more than a distraction to divert the attention of the international community.
This is the fifth pardon since 2011 and the second in less than a month, which reinforces the thesis that the releases are a response to a logic of resource management and international pressure, rather than a genuine change in the human rights policies of the Cuban government.
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