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The Panamanian Chancellor Javier Martínez-Acha announced that his government will activate an international mechanism to request that the seven Panamanian citizens detained in Cuba serve their potential sentence in their country rather than on the island.
"Panama hopes that the corresponding trial will take place in Panama and that, if there is a sentence, the penalty will be carried out in Panama," stated Martínez-Acha.
The case originated on February 28, 2026, when the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) of Cuba detained ten Panamanian citizens in Havana, accused of propaganda against the Cuban constitutional order for placing critical posters and graffiti against the regime.
The charges fall under Article 124 of the Cuban Penal Code, which outlines penalties of between eight and ten years of imprisonment.
In April 2026, three of the detainees —Evelyn Edith Castro, Cinthia del Carmen Camarena, and Abigail— were released as a "gesture of friendship" by the Cuban regime following diplomatic negotiations.
The seven remaining men —Víctor Manuel Pinzón Cedeño, Anthony Williams Jules Pérez, Omar Gilberto Urriola Vergara, Maykol Jesús Pérez Almendra, Adalberto Antonio Navarro Asprilla, Patrochiny Jerodany Joseph Arisarena, and José Luis Aguirre Baruco— are still being held at Villa Marista, the main detention and interrogation center of Cuban State Security, known for housing political prisoners.
As of this Thursday, the seven Panamanians have been held in custody on the island for over four months.
The mechanism that Panama plans to activate is an instrument of international law that allows foreign citizens convicted in another country to serve their sentence in their home nation, but it requires the agreement of both States.
Martínez-Acha acknowledged that "the case of the seven Panamanians is following the Cuban criminal process," which indicates that the regime has shown no signs of relinquishing control over the judicial process.
Since the beginning of the case, Panama has engaged in intense diplomatic efforts: the chancellor traveled to Cuba to negotiate directly with the authorities, and the Panamanian ambassador Edwin Pitty met with the detainees at Villa Marista, demanding a presumption of innocence, permanent consular access, and respect for due process.
Relatives of those detained and a circulated video contradict the official Cuban version: according to these testimonies, the Panamanians traveled to Cuba with humanitarian purposes, delivering food to those in need, and not with subversive intentions.
Bilateral tension escalated further when Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino denied a request from the Cuban regime to extradite Boris Mauricio Betancourt Hernández, a Cuban citizen detained in Panama for drug trafficking since 2024.
In parallel, protests in Panama City gathered Panamanian, Cuban, and Costa Rican citizens in front of the Cuban embassy, while the regime labeled these demonstrations as "provocative acts."
The formal request for the transfer of the sentence will ultimately depend on whether Havana accepts the mechanism, something that the Cuban regime has not confirmed so far.
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