Amnesty International on Monday demanded that the Cuban government immediately release seven prisoners held for political reasons, and permanently cease political detentions.

The rights group listed the names of each prisoner, demanded their release, and denounced the country’s political-prisoner release process, criticizing its “opacity” and “absence of clear criteria and use of arbitrary conditions.”

Advocating for the abolishment of political detentions, Ana Piquer, Amnesty’s regional director for the Americas, stated:

Cuba must free, without conditions, those who never should have been imprisoned. President Díaz-Canel must take an unequivocal decision: end the use of the criminal justice system to silence criticism and punish activism. It is time to put an end to the repression of those who peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

Most prisoners of concern were detained due to their involvement in political protests on July 11, 2021. The protests, the largest the country had seen since the 1959 Cuban Revolution, constituted a backlash against government action during the COVID-19 pandemic, food and medicine scarcity, and a perceived lack of citizen rights.

In January 2025, the government agreed to release 553 prisoners, the majority of which were linked to the July 2021 protests, after officials engaged in talks with the Vatican.

However, Amnesty reported that only 211 prisoners have been released since then. The group also reported that some of those released still face retaliation through forced exile or return to prison.