The human rights organization Cubalex reported that at least five minors under 18 were detained in Cuba following the protests in March 2026, with documented cases in Ciego de Ávila and Las Minas.
José Raúl Gallego, an investigator from Cubalex, revealed the details in a video posted this Monday on the organization's X account: "We have identified at least five minors under 18 who have been detained for their participation in the protest. We have four from Ciego de Ávila and we have a 16-year-old boy from Las Minas named Jonathan; we haven't even been able to obtain his last name, although we do have photos of him, who was arrested and later released on bail, pending a trial process."
Gallego also warned that two of the minors from Ciego de Ávila may have been transferred to the Canaleta prison, one of the largest in the country: "It is an adult prison, where we know that anything can happen inside a prison, especially when they are young boys underage."
The most documented case is that of Jonathan David Muir Burgos, 16 years old, son of the evangelical pastor Elier Muir Ávila, arrested on March 16 in Morón when he went with his father to a police summons.
Jonathan faces a formal accusation of sabotage, related to his participation in the protests on March 13 in Morón, where protesters set fire to the local headquarters of the Communist Party.
The Municipal Prosecutor's Office of Morón ordered preventive detention for the minor on April 1 and was transferred to Canaleta prison, although he was temporarily returned due to electrical failures.
The Provincial Court of Ciego de Ávila rejected both the habeas corpus appeal and the request for a change of precautionary measure submitted by his defense.
Jonathan suffers from chronic dyshidrosis and other infections that require ongoing treatment; according to reports, he remains without medical care, sleeping on the floor and with limited food.
A second 16-year-old teenager, Christian de Jesús Crespo Álvarez, was arrested on March 18 also for his alleged participation in the protests in Morón, identified through videos of the demonstrations.
His father, Odelsis Crespo, reported that they only allowed him ten minutes for a visit on March 30, after more than twelve days without communication with his son.
The protests in March erupted after the collapse of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant on March 5, which left 68% of the island without electricity, with power outages lasting more than 20 hours daily. Cubalex documented 156 protests and 47 arrests across Cuba until March 17.
On April 10, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued an official request to the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, giving the regime a five-day deadline to account for the case of Jonathan Muir, which turned the complaint into a matter of formal international scrutiny.
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