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The Republican congressman Mario Díaz-Balart posted on Facebook a demand for the immediate release of Jonathan David Muir Burgos, a Cuban teenager who is 16 years old and currently held in the maximum-security prison of Canaleta, in Ciego de Ávila.
"From the United States, we demand FREEDOM now for Jonathan David Muir Burgos! No minor should be pursued, imprisoned, or intimidated for raising their voice against a dictatorship. The regime in Cuba must release him immediately," wrote the Cuban-American legislator for Florida's 26th district.
Jonathan was arrested on March 16, 2026, when he went with his father, the evangelical pastor Elier Muir Ávila, to a police summons in Morón, days after participating in the protests on March 13.
These protests, triggered by daily power outages lasting over 26 hours and extreme food shortages, led hundreds of Cubans to storm the headquarters of the Communist Party in Morón, where they burned furniture and documents while chanting "Liberty!" and "Down with the dictatorship!".
The Municipal Prosecutor's Office of Morón ordered preventive imprisonment on April 2, accusing the minor of the crime of sabotage, with penalties that can range from seven to 15 years or more in aggravated cases.
Despite being a minor, Jonathan was transferred to Canaleta, an adult prison, and the Provincial Court of Ciego de Ávila rejected the habeas corpus petitions and requests for changes in precautionary measures submitted by his defense.
The conditions of confinement are alarming. The adolescent receives only one meal a day—in a disposable cup of six to eight ounces—and suffers from severe dishydrosis, infections from beta-hemolytic streptococcus and staphylococcus, and two untreated intestinal parasites.
In the early hours of April 23, at 1:45 a.m., Jonathan called his father from jail: “Dad, please, get me out of here, I can't take it anymore”, and he described how the bedbugs wouldn't let him sleep and that he felt like his mind “couldn't take it any longer.”
His father, Pastor Elier Muir Ávila, has described the young man as "malnourished, getting thinner every day. He is quite skinny."
Last Thursday, the CIDH granted precautionary measures to the adolescent through Resolution 30/2026, considering that their rights to life, personal integrity, and health are at risk of irreparable harm.
The organization had sent an official request to the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on April 10, demanding a response within five days, but the regime did not provide any information.
International pressure has not been limited to Washington. The Spanish Popular Party MEP Raúl de la Hoz Quintano denounced the case last Wednesday, and more than 50 neighbors from Morón collected signatures demanding his release.
Díaz-Balart had already reported the case on March 25, stating that "the regime's repression in Cuba is becoming increasingly brutal, with over a thousand political prisoners behind bars, including minors like Jonathan Muir Burgos."
The Cuban regime has not responded to any of the international requests for release or the requirements of the IACHR, while Prisoners Defenders recorded 1,214 political prisoners on the island in February 2026, a record number.
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