Related videos:
The Cuban chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla congratulated Cuban jurists this Tuesday on their Day (June 8), praising those who "
In a message posted on X, the Minister of Foreign Affairs particularly highlighted the legal experts working at the MINREX and stated that "their ethics, training, and loyalty to the Fatherland contribute every day to institutional solidity and the full exercise of our sovereignty."
Rodríguez Parrilla's words stand in contrast to a reality documented by multiple international organizations: that of a judicial system structurally subordinated to the political power of the regime.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) noted in its Annual Report 2024 that in Cuba, the "subordination of the administration of justice to political power" persists, a structural characteristic that is not new but rather constitutional.
The Cuban Constitution of 2019 enshrines the irreversibility of the socialist model and hierarchically subordinates the courts to the National Assembly of People's Power and the Council of State, which effectively prevents any judge from declaring a law unconstitutional.
That institutional architecture has historically served as a tool of political repression.
Following the protests on July 11, 2021, the judicial system prosecuted thousands of Cubans under conditions that have been condemned internationally: some protesters were tried in military courts, and sentences reached up to 22 years in prison.
The organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) characterized the actions of the so-called "revolutionary justice" as "crimes against humanity". In this regard, documented at least six patterns of violations in these processes, including the absence of an independent judge and procedural irregularities, and described the Cuban judicial system as "dependent on the Communist Party of Cuba" and "biased in favor of it."
By the end of April 2026, the same organization reported 1,250 political and conscience prisoners in Cuba, with 738 currently incarcerated.
The other side of that "socialist legality" is the impunity that the system guarantees to regime entities when they are responsible for tragedies.
The explosion at the Saratoga Hotel on May 6, 2022, resulted in 47 deaths and 99 injuries in Havana. The hotel was managed by GAESA, the Cuban military business conglomerate.
Four years later, there is no public trial or transparent convictions against those responsible, and GAESA replied that the case "was not their responsibility" when the affected families sought information.
The fire at the Supertanker Base in Matanzas, which began on August 5, 2022, resulted in 17 deaths and 125 injuries, including teenagers from the Mandatory Military Service. The director of CUPET was simply reassigned as deputy minister, with no known legal proceedings following the incident.
This pattern is not new. Twenty-three years after the Black Spring of 2003, when 75 peaceful opponents were arrested, summarily tried, and sentenced to long prison terms, the Cuban judicial system continues to be, according to its critics, an instrument at the service of the power rather than the citizens.
Filed under: