On the fifth anniversary of the protests of July 11, 2021, the U.S. Embassy in Cuba published a video on X demanding the immediate release of all Cuban political prisoners and reading aloud dozens of names of vulnerable detainees.
“Five long years have passed, and we continue to insist on the release of all those unjustly imprisoned for simply exercising their fundamental right to express themselves as they did on July 11, 2021, including those who remain in custody despite having served their sentences, such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara,” stated the diplomatic mission in its publication.
The case of Otero Alcántara is the most urgent for the anniversary: the artist and leader of the San Isidro Movement was removed from the prison in Guanajay on July 7 in a State Security operation without notifying his family.
His five-year sentence officially expired on July 9, but he remains in state custody at an undisclosed location within Havana.
Amnesty International reported a forced disappearance and demanded immediate and unconditional release.
The activist Anamely Ramos managed to have a brief call with him on July 9, during which he confirmed that he is alive but being held by the State in an unknown location.
The video from the Embassy showcased a lengthy list of names of Cubans imprisoned for protesting that day for over six minutes.
"Those names and hundreds of others all have families, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, and they have suffered and continue to suffer," the video concludes.
The anniversary arrives at a time of unprecedented repression: according to a report from Prisoners Defenders published this Friday, Cuba reached 1,306 political prisoners at the end of June 2026, the highest number ever documented by the organization.
Of that total, 820 are physically incarcerated, 40 are minors, and 458 suffer from severe medical conditions.
Since July 11, 2021, until June 2026, 2,112 people have been imprisoned in Cuban jails for political reasons.
The massive pardon announced by the regime on April 2, 2026 —which released 2,010 prisoners— explicitly excluded those convicted for the 11J, who were prosecuted under the designation of "crimes against authority."
Among the most serious cases is that of Félix Navarro, 72 years old, recognized as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, who suffered a brutal beating in Agüica prison in April 2026.
Her daughter Saylí Navarro is serving an eight-year sentence in Matanzas and was disciplined after reporting the assault against her father.
Both, along with the rapper Maykel Osorbo, received the Democracy Award 2026 from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) of the United States.
On February 14, 2026, Luis Miguel Oña Jiménez, a 27-year-old political prisoner from the events of 11J who was living with HIV/AIDS, passed away days after being released in terminal condition following a cerebral ischemia without adequate medical care in prison.
"His death was caused in prison, under the custody of the State," denounced Prisoners Defenders at the time.
The protests of July 11, 2021, were the largest popular demonstrations against the regime in over six decades, with gatherings in 82 locations across Cuba and more than 1,400 people detained in the days that followed.
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