Yasmily Machado Duvergel, a Cuban opposition activist, reported that the authorities are demanding a bail of 500,000 Cuban pesos to release her 16-year-old son, who has been detained since last Saturday in Guanabacoa, Havana, without any explanation for his arrest and without being allowed to see him.
The teenager, Michel Joel Valdés Machado, was intercepted on October 10 while heading to a nearby basin close to his home, as his mother stated in a report shared by the human rights organization Prisoners Defenders on their X account.
The woman stated that her son is being held at police station number 14 in Guanabacoa and that no officer, investigator, or person in charge of the unit has informed her of what crime he is being accused of.
"I feel repressed in front of the police station number fourteen in Guanabacoa, as they are denying me the right to know about my son, to leave him his belongings, to understand why he is being held down there in the station. For being an opponent," she expressed in a video.
The mother, a representative of the Democracy Movement and the Opponents for a New Republic Movement (MONR), believes that the detention is linked to her political activism and reports that the reprisals are now extending to her family.
Half a million pesos to regain freedom
"The police tell me that I have to pay a bail of half a million pesos, when here in this country where we are not free and do not have freedom of expression, there isn't a single ordinary Cuban who earns that salary," he questioned.
The opposition member also denounced the conditions in which her son would be held, citing a lack of water, electricity, and a diet she described as "a stew."
The use of excessive bail in criminal proceedings against activists and protesters has been called into question by independent organizations.
In an analysis published in July, Cubalex warned that Article 364 of the Cuban Criminal Procedure Law does not establish minimum or maximum limits for setting these amounts, leaving a wide margin of discretion to the authorities.
According to the organization, between 2024 and 2026, bail amounts ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 pesos began to be systematically imposed, figures that many families cannot afford.
Concern over the detention of minors in Cuba
According to the latest report from Prisoners Defenders, Cuba recorded 1,372 political prisoners as of October 1, 2026, including 40 individuals counted for having been detained while underage or currently undergoing active criminal proceedings from that period.
In the case of Michel Joel, no formal charges have been publicly reported, nor has the legal status of the minor and the conditions of his detention been independently verified.
While she continues to demand answers, her mother insists that the authorities must allow her to know the status of her son and explain the reasons for his continued police custody.
"I ask for freedom for my son Michel Joel Valdés Machado. Down with the dictatorship. Freedom for political prisoners. Freedom for the people of Cuba and no more repression," he concluded.
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