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The pardon announced by the Cuban regime during Holy Week for 2,010 "sanctioned" individuals did not include any political prisoners, as confirmed by the main human rights organizations monitoring the situation on the island.
The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), Prisoners Defenders (PD), and Cubalex found not a single opposition member, activist, or demonstrator among those released in recent days, despite the regime presenting the measure as a humanitarian and sovereign gesture.
Everything seems to be a strategic maneuver by Miguel Díaz-Canel's government to create the appearance of a more flexible administration, but in reality, they are intensifying the repression against those who think differently in the country.
The explanation is simple: the official statement published in the newspaper Granma explicitly excluded those convicted of crimes against authority, the legal category that the regime systematically uses to imprison opponents, demonstrators, and critics.
For Javier Larrondo, president of Prisoners Defenders, the regime's intentions are clear.
"They did it to distract, to apply pressure on Washington through diplomatic means, to display an apparent weakness they do not possess, or to generate empathy for a diplomatic solution. And, above all, to continue deceiving. They need time until the U.S. elections in November approach, also hoping that difficulties in Iran will disrupt Trump’s Cuban agenda. These are their lifelines to remain in power," Larrondo stated in comments to El Mundo.
The tactic of using common prisoners to inflate the figures of political prisoner releases is a classic move of the regime. One only needs to look back to March 12, when Cuba freed 51 prisoners as part of an agreement with the Vatican: according to various sources, only between five and 27 were political prisoners, while the rest were common prisoners used as filler.
This is the fifth Cuban pardon since 2011, benefiting more than 11,000 individuals accumulated, almost all of whom were sentenced for common crimes.
Prisoners Defenders recorded 1,214 political prisoners in Cuba at the end of February 2026, while Justicia 11J estimates at least 760, including 358 detained during the protests of July 11, 2021.
While the regime executes this diplomatic maneuver, the repression against those protesting the blackouts continues unabated. One of the most alarming cases is that of Jonathan Muir Burgos, age 16, detained in Morón after participating in a demonstration on March 13, where citizens, exasperated by the nightly power outages, marched to the local headquarters of the Communist Party of Cuba.
The organization Cuba Decide, led by Rosa María Payá, reported that the minor was irregularly transferred from the Technical Investigations Department to Canaleta prison, despite being underage.
The activist Anamely Ramos was direct in her assessment: "We are witnessing a propaganda spectacle."
The false pardon occurs amidst secret negotiations between Havana and Washington, confirmed by Díaz-Canel himself on March 13, in which Secretary of State Marco Rubio demands immediate economic changes and the replacement of the Cuban leader with someone more open to reforms.
The regime, cornered by the worst energy crisis in decades, is seeking to buy time with calculated gestures that have no political cost but allow it to continue negotiating without giving in to what Washington truly demands: the freedom of political prisoners and a real change in the power structure.
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