Cuba releases first group of prisoners, most linked to 2021 protests

On Wednesday, Cuba released a first group of prisoners, most of them linked to the July 2021 anti-government protestsreported a human rights organization and a released woman.

The day before, the Cuban government reported that it would gradually release 553 people as a gesture towards Pope Francis and within the framework of the jubilee year – a Catholic celebration of reconciliation – that began this January.

The announcement occurred on the same day that the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden reported its decision to remove the Caribbean nation from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, an inclusion that caused a strong financial impact on the island, hindering foreign trade and exacerbating the economic crisis.

In the morning, the young Reyna Yacnara Barreto Batista, 24, was released, the woman herself reported in a telephone conversation with The Associated Press from the province of Camagüey.

Together with her, they gave freedom letters to nine men, of whom, except for one, all were imprisoned for reasons related to the protests, the woman indicated.

However, the organization that monitors imprisonment on the island, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, released a list with the names of 14 released —including Barreto Batista— who have been released until now.

The Cuban government announced the releases the day beforethe same day that the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden reported its decision to remove the Caribbean nation from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, an inclusion that caused a strong financial impact on the island, hindering foreign trade and worsening the economic crisis. in the country.

In a program on official Cuban television dedicated to explaining the releases, the vice president of the Supreme People’s Court of Cuba, Marcela Sosa, indicated the scope of the releases.

“It is not an amnesty or a pardon because it entails the full extension of the sanction,” said Sosa. “They are early release benefits,” added the official, who indicated that they even reached people with “dissimilar” crimes such as property or robbery.

Barreto Batista, a professional tattoo artist who had been sentenced to four years in prison after participating in the 2021 protests, reported that “at three in the morning they touched me, I was sleeping (in the cell) and they told me to collect all my tattoos.” things that were free.”

Then, along with eight men, they were taken to a center where they were warned that this was not a pardon or pardon, so they had to maintain good behavior or they could be sent to prison again.

According to Cuban law, conditional release or extra-penal license does not extinguish sentences, so those released in principle would not be able to carry out procedures such as requesting passports or leaving the country.

“I’m at home with my mom. The whole family celebrating,” added Barreto Batista.

Another half-dozen people, including relatives and friends of those imprisoned, with whom AP contacted indicated that they had no news of their loved ones and were waiting to find out whether or not they were affected by the measure.

“Maykel (Castillo) called me a while ago, nothing has moved in his prison,” art curator and activist Anamelys Ramos told AP. Ramos is a personal friend and usually transmits the messages sent by the plastic artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and the rapper Castillo, known as Maykel Osorbo, two of the most visible prisoners and with strong opposition to the Cuban government.

In November, the non-governmental organization Justice 11J confirmed that 554 citizens remain detained in connection with the 2021 demonstrations. Smaller protests added more arrests between 2022 and 2024.

In December 2011, then-President Raúl Castro announced the humanitarian pardon of some 2,900 prisoners—especially the elderly, the sick, or young people with good behavior—none of whom had a history of opposing the government. The measure was a gesture to the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the island that he would make the following year.

Another 3,500 prisoners without political records received the same benefit in September 2015 before Francisco’s arrival in Cuba.

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