The Cuban human rights organization Cubalex reported on Wednesday the deaths of two inmates under state custody at the Provincial Prison of Guantánamo during June 2026, in what the organization describes as part of a systematic pattern of negligence and institutional violence in Cuban prisons.
According to the alert published by Cubalex, the first case concerns Lensy Vidal Poll, known as "Pancho," who died on June 24 due to malnutrition.
Days before his death, authorities had moved him to an area where he was supposedly to receive a special diet due to his delicate health condition. However, the prison population was not informed of what had happened until three days later, and the exact circumstances of his passing remain unclear.
The second case is that of an inmate identified only as Yuniel, whose last name is unknown, who took his own life on June 4th within the prison amid a context of violence linked to debts among inmates.
Following his death, the prison authorities relocated the inmates involved in the incident to other facilities.
Cubalex frames both deaths within a broader pattern that the organization has systematically documented. "We warn that these deaths are part of a pattern of negligence and institutional violence in Cuban prisons," the organization stated in its communiqué.
The Guantánamo Provincial Prison has accumulated a series of documented deaths in the preceding months. In May 2026, Cubalex had already reported the deaths of two inmates in Guantánamo: Ermis Bombu Moreira, 52, who died of starvation after a metabolic coma due to lack of food, and Alfredo Poll Imber, 50, who died of tuberculosis while serving an 11-year sentence.
In October 2025, the death of Serguey Marrero Faure was also reported in that same prison, attributed to the lack of treatment for a diagnosed thrombus.
Among the background cases cited by the organization is that of Leudis Ramos Mejías, 31 years old, who took his own life in the Boniato prison in Santiago de Cuba in 2025.
According to the complaint, he was experiencing a depressive episode due to a debt within the prison and feared reprisals from the control groups in his unit; he requested a transfer and protective measures, but the authorities ignored his request.
The alarming increase in deaths in penal custody in Cuba is reflected in the figures from Cubalex's own monitoring: the organization documented 39 deaths throughout 2025 and, at the time of publishing this alert, had already recorded 30 fatalities in the year 2026.
The organization warns that the inhumane conditions of confinement —malnutrition, violence among inmates, lack of medical and psychological care, and insufficient protective measures— increase the risk to the lives of the incarcerated population, and demands that the Cuban state independently, impartially, and effectively investigate every death that occurs in prison.
"The Cuban state is responsible for protecting the life, integrity, and dignity of all individuals under its custody. It has the obligation to prevent risk situations, ensure appropriate medical and psychological care, protect them from violence and other threats, and to conduct an independent, impartial, and effective investigation into every death occurring in prison," concludes the statement from Cubalex.
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