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Republican Senator Tom Cotton demanded this Friday that the Cuban regime release all political prisoners before the fifth anniversary of the protests of July 11, 2021, in a message posted on X on the eve of the anniversary.
"Tomorrow marks five years since thousands of brave Cubans peacefully protested against the tyrannical regime. The regime should take this opportunity today to release all political prisoners," Cotton wrote.
The legislator added that "demanding freedom is only a crime for those whose power is threatened" and reaffirmed his solidarity with those who continue to call for a better future for Cuba.
The message is the third that Cotton has published in less than a week regarding the situation in the Island. On July 6, he described 11J as "the cry of thousands of ordinary Cubans" who took to the streets to demand basic freedoms after decades of repression under what he called a "brutal Marxist regime."
Two days later, he urged the Trump administration to "tighten the screws" on the regime and its foreign facilitators.
The senator's call comes at a time of intense international pressure on Havana.
On July 7, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, presented photographs of Cuban political prisoners—among them Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel "Osorbo" Castillo Pérez—before the General Assembly and accused the conglomerate GAESA of managing a fund of 18 billion dollars without "a single cent going to the Cuban people."
The case of Otero Alcántara is drawing significant international attention this week. The artist and leader of the San Isidro Movement was taken out of the Guanajay prison on July 7 by State Security agents without notifying his family, despite the fact that his five-year sentence was set to expire on July 9.
Amnesty International formally denounced his forced disappearance that same day, demanding his "immediate and unconditional" release.
The UN Committee on Forced Disappearances has activated an Urgent Action —registered as AU No. 2357/2026— with a deadline for an official report on July 25, while Cubalex filed a habeas corpus petition arguing that their detention is illegal as they have fully served their sentence.
The overall situation of political prisoners in Cuba remains severe. Human rights organizations estimate that there are a total of 1,281 individuals deprived of their liberty for political reasons in May 2026: 785 in prisons and 475 under house arrest or forced confinement.
According to a report from Justicia 11J from April 2026, 338 individuals were still serving sentences directly related to the protests of 2021.
The regime released 2,010 prisoners on April 2, 2026, as a "humanitarian gesture," but explicitly excluded those convicted of crimes against authority, the same legal figure used to criminalize the protesters from July 11.
The anniversary arrives amid a sharp energy crisis: in June 2026, there were 107 protests across the country, a figure that nearly doubles the previous historic high, and on July 6, the seventh total disconnection of the National Electric System occurred in 18 months.
In Miami, the organization Cuban Freedom March called for a gathering this Saturday under the slogan "Actions, not words."
"The Cuban people —whose spirit is exemplified by the movement of July 11— deserve a chance at freedom," Cotton wrote on July 8, summarizing the tone of a week in which international pressure on the regime has continued to escalate.
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