The Cuban comedian Conrado Coble, known artistically as Boncó Quiñongo, posed a series of direct questions to the regime in Havana during an interview with CiberCuba.
"Why don’t they release political prisoners? Why doesn’t the leadership of Cuba, if they say the embargo and the restrictive measures bother them so much, address one of the issues, which is to release the political prisoners?" he questioned.
Boncó recalled that the regime has started to release some inmates, but he criticized the authenticity of the process: "They are releasing whoever they want."
The comedian, exiled in the United States, pointed out that among the first to be released should be Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo, two of the most emblematic political prisoners in Cuba. None of them were included in the pardon of 2,010 prisoners announced on April 4.
Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement, has been imprisoned in Guanajay since his arrest during the protests on July 11, 2021. In April, he fasted for 12 hours a day for eight days, and has reported death threats from State Security officials.
Osorbo, rapper and co-performer of "Patria y Vida", is serving a nine-year sentence in Kilo 5 and a Half prison in Pinar del Río. His sentence does not expire until 2030.
According to Prisoners Defenders, in February 2026 there were 1,214 political prisoners in Cuba.
The central argument of Boncó was that releasing political prisoners, ensuring freedom of expression, allowing the creation of legal opposition parties, and calling for free elections are measures that exclusively benefit the Cuban people, not external actors: "If they release the political prisoners, that is a measure that only benefits the Cuban people."
The comedian challenged the regime to take that first step to prove that the embargo is just an excuse: "You take that first step. Hey, look, I will hold free elections, I will do this, I will do that, so they can see that the blockade is just an excuse. There’s more blockade now than anyone has imposed on the Cuban people."
Boncó also questioned: "Why are there no free elections? What are they afraid of here? Who would benefit from free elections in Cuba? An American?"
In the interview, he criticized the regime's agrarian reform and asked, "Where are the cows? " "Where is the land?".
"This year, the dictatorship park is leaving", he stated at another moment.
The comedian summed up his view of the regime with a powerful statement: "They are ready for excuses, they are specialists in excuses, and excuses are the only thing losers have to keep getting opportunities, to keep losing."
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