Cuba commemorates this Saturday the 158th anniversary of the Grito de Yara with 1,339 people included in the political prisoners registry of Prisoners Defenders as of the end of August 2026. The consultable list of the organization, updated in October, now shows 1,353 cases. Behind these numbers are individuals serving prison sentences, others facing restrictions on their freedom, and families reporting difficulties in visiting them or ensuring they receive medical attention. Among the emblematic cases is the rapper Maykel Osorbo, co-author of "Patria y Vida," who remains incarcerated.
On October 10, 1868, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes launched the uprising against Spanish rule in La Demajagua, which sparked the Ten Years' War. His manifesto demanded political representation and freedoms for Cubans. This anniversary now coincides with an increase in the number of people registered by a human rights organization as victims of imprisonment or politically motivated sanctions.
What do the figures from Prisoners Defenders mean?
In its report published on September 10, Prisoners Defenders announced 19 new additions and seven removals in August, resulting in a net increase of 12 cases. A year earlier, in August 2025, there were 1,185 reported cases: the year-on-year increase was 154 individuals. The figure of 1,353 published on their site corresponds to a dynamic update from October and does not replace the detailed August report as a monthly closure.
The August report distinguishes 807 prisoners of conscience, individuals deprived of their liberty for causes that the organization considers political; 495 condemned prisoners of conscience, subjected to restrictions on their freedom without imprisonment; and 37 other political prisoners, deprived of their liberty in processes that, according to Prisoners Defenders, present serious violations of guarantees for political reasons. Therefore, talking about more than 1,300 political prisoners does not mean that all are physically behind bars.
The list included 155 women and 38 individuals detained when they were minors, 14 of whom were still incarcerated according to the report. The organization also documented 217 protesters convicted of sedition, with an average sentence of ten years of imprisonment.
Maykel Osorbo and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara: from prison to exile
Maykel Castillo Pérez, known as Maykel Osorbo, is one of the faces of the repression against dissenting artists. The rapper and co-founder of the San Isidro Movement — a collective that denounced cultural censorship and defended creative freedom — was arrested on May 18, 2021. On June 24, 2022, he was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges that included assault, contempt, and public disorder. He is also a co-author and performer of Patria y Vida, a song that became an anthem of the 2021 protests and won two Latin Grammys: Song of the Year and Best Urban Song.
In July 2026, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a report that labeled his detention as illegal and arbitrary, determined that he suffered enforced disappearance between May 18 and 31, 2021, and recommended that Cuba nullify his conviction. Osorbo continues to be listed as deprived of liberty in the Guanajay prison in Artemisa. In an audio released in August, he stated that he had accepted the possibility of going into exile, but the Cuban authorities had not allowed his departure.
His friend and fellow activist, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, is a visual artist and co-founder of the San Isidro Movement, who also turned his performances and protests into a condemnation of censorship. He was detained on July 11, 2021 and was sentenced, on the same day as Osorbo, to five years in prison for offenses such as contempt, public disorder, and outrage against national symbols. Unlike the rapper, Otero Alcántara was released from prison on July 18, 2026, after serving his sentence, but he was forced to leave Cuba and went into exile in Miami. Amnesty International, which recognized both as prisoners of conscience, denounced that this exile prolongs the punishment against critical voices. Otero Alcántara, therefore, is no longer a political prisoner incarcerated, although his case remains an example of political persecution.
More than 300 kilometers for a visit that did not take place
The drama faced by families was reflected this week in the case of Wilber Aguilar Bravo. On Thursday, October 8th, he traveled from Havana to the Nieves Morejón prison in Sancti Spíritus to visit his son, Walnier Luis Aguilar Rivera, who has been imprisoned for the protests of July 11, 2021. He covered more than 300 kilometers and, according to his complaint, the authorities prevented him from entering and delivering food.
Aguilar stated that on that day it had been 84 days without being able to visit Walnier and that they had communicated a new visit date for November 20. His son was initially sentenced to 23 years for sedition, a sentence that was later reduced to 12 years. The father has also reported surveillance and harassment for claiming his rights.
The situation of both prompted decisions from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), which granted precautionary measures to Walnier in 2022 and extended them to his father and family in January 2025 due to the seriousness and urgency of the reported risks. In this latest decision, the CIDH stated that Cuba had not provided any information and called for protective measures for the family.
The health of those who remain incarcerated
Prisoners Defenders documented, among the individuals who remained in prison, 463 with severe medical conditions and 54 with serious mental health disorders. The organization reported that inadequate nutrition, mistreatment, and the denial of healthcare exacerbate their conditions.
On Wednesday, October 7, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights released a letter from Ana Ibis Tristá Padilla, imprisoned in the women's prison of Las Tunas. The woman, sentenced to 14 years after a second trial for crimes against the constitutional order and state security, described having kidney problems, chronic asthma, and difficulties walking. "I can barely walk and I suffer from daily pains," she wrote, according to the letter shared by the organization, which called for urgent medical attention and her release.
The case of Tristá was particularly controversial: she had been acquitted in an initial trial due to insufficient evidence, but the prosecution appealed, leading to another trial that resulted in a conviction. According to the available information on the case, her health complaint has not received a public response from the prison authorities.
The protesters from 11J who are still imprisoned
An important portion of those imprisoned for political reasons stems from the protests of July 2021. In a report published on July 10, 2026, Human Rights Watch pointed out that, according to estimates from Justicia 11J and Prisoners Defenders, about 800 political prisoners were still physically incarcerated, nearly half of whom were linked to those protests.
Human Rights Watch stated that Cuban courts punished, in several cases, behaviors protected by freedoms of expression and association, while in others, they imposed disproportionate sentences based on uncorroborated or unreliable evidence. The report cited Juan Enrique Pérez Sánchez, sentenced to eight years for contempt, public disorder, and sabotage, for whom the prosecutors used supposed "scent traces" on stones as evidence. Forensic experts consulted by the organization questioned the scientific basis of that evidence.
Cuban authorities process these cases under criminal charges such as sedition, contempt, or public disorder; the cited human rights organizations question the application of these offenses to those who protested peacefully and the guarantees of the procedures. The classification of political prisoners comes from these organizations, not from a recognition by the Cuban authorities.
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