The Official Gazette of Cuba published this Monday the complete nominal list of those benefited by the Presidential Decree 1212 of 2026, which grants a total and definitive pardon to 2,010 sanctioned individuals.
The document, signed by Miguel Díaz-Canel on April 3, appears in the Official Gazette No. 11 Extraordinary Special and spans more than 100 pages with names and legal cases.
The most revealing piece of information from the publication this Monday is the presence in the list of 95 individuals whose cases are linked to the Crimes Against State Security Chamber of the Provincial People's Court of Havana, which specializes in cases of dissent and political activism.
This figure partially contradicts the official narrative with which the regime announced the pardon on April 2, when it presented the measure as primarily aimed at common prisoners and explicitly excluded "crimes against authority," a category that is commonly used against protesters and dissenters.
The decree is based on Article 128 of the Cuban Constitution and the 1919 Law of Pardons, justifying it as "a humanitarian and sovereign gesture, as a common practice in our criminal justice system, and within the context of the religious celebrations of Holy Week."
Among those granted clemency are individuals with cases in Military Courts of Havana, Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Villa Clara, and Mayabeque, as well as municipal and provincial courts throughout the country.
The enforcement of the decree was entrusted to the President of the People's Supreme Court and the Ministers of Interior and Justice.
The publication of the Gaceta comes almost two months after the signing of the decree, which until now has prevented independent verification of who was actually pardoned and under what legal grounds.
When the regime announced the measure in April, the reactions from human rights organizations were critical. The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights demanded the release of all political prisoners and described the progress as "poor."
José Daniel Ferrer accused the regime of using the pardon to "get out of a bind," while artists and activists reported "trickery" and "manipulation."
Prisoners Defenders, which recorded 1,214 political prisoners in Cuba at the end of February 2026, expressed skepticism regarding the seriousness of the measure, although it noted that it would celebrate any release that benefited political prisoners and their families.
The U.S. Senator Rick Scott publicly criticized the pardon for excluding political prisoners.
This is the second pardon so far in 2026 and the fifth since 2011, during which the regime has "benefited" over 11,000 people through these measures. Previous mass pardons included 2,604 prisoners in 2019 and 787 in 2016.
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