The Communist Party of Cuba announced a mass pardon of over 2,000 prisoners on Thursday, allegedly to mark the Christian holiday of Holy Week, but human rights groups have denounced the regime for neither freeing a single political prisoner nor clarifying who it is freeing.
Javier Larrondo – the president of Prisoners Defenders, a human rights organization that advocates for prisoners of conscience on the island – told Breitbart News on Friday that his group’s network of relatives of political prisoners had not identified a single one of them freed as of Friday afternoon Havana time. He suggested that Cuba is engaging in what he referred to as “prison drainage” – freeing inmates because the regime simply cannot sustain its astronomical prison population with its poor finances, particularly during the current crisis.
Most of the island’s population has endured abject poverty for decades – since mass murderer Fidel Castro outlawed the possession of private property for anyone but his family and “expropriated” the nation’s wealth – but the Communist Party is facing an unprecedented financial complication since January, when the government of the United States arrested Venezuelan former dictator Nicolás Maduro, cutting Cuba off from a steady stream of free or highly discounted fuel. Even some of the members of the Castro elite, most notably Fidel’s grandson Sandro Castro, have begun complaining in public of shortages affecting their previously lavish lifestyles.
The Cuban External Relations Ministry (Minrex) published a statement on Thursday announcing that the government would liberate 2,010 “sanctioned individuals” and offer pardons “in the context of the religious celebrations of Holy Week.” It did not clarify how its “humanitarian and sovereign” decision constituted a foreign policy issue under the purview of Minrex. Further, the Communist Party agency did not name any of the prisoners or offer any clear timetable for when they would be released.
“This humanitarian and sovereign gesture is the result of a careful analysis of the characteristics of the acts committed by those sanctioned, their good conduct in prison, having fulfilled an important part of their sanction, and their state of health,” Minrex explained.
It also offered an extensive list of those who are not eligible for freedom, including those who have been convicted of “crimes against authority” – a category that would presumably include all prisoners of conscience. Cuba routinely jails its citizens on spurious charges such as desacato (“disrespect”) or “public disorder.” Others blocked from pardons include “some who received pardons previously and committed new crimes,” another description that could include known and vocal peaceful political dissidents.
Larrondo, whose group, Prisoners Defenders, documents the number of political prisoners and their status on the island, told Breitbart News on Friday that his attempts to find even a single liberated political prisoner in Cuba failed, listing the prisoners that appear to have participated in the initiative.
“Forced labor prison Toledo 2, Marianao, Havana, they have freed 41 prisoners, all common. Not a single one is a political prisoner. Same in the El Yabú forced labor prison. All common,” he explained in a written message. “This confirms the regime’s little game to attempt to trick the press at the cost of agonizing family members. In the El Típico de Las Tunas prison, they have freed six common inmates plus some other dozens of prisoners in forced labor adjacent to the El Típico.”
“We can confirm in the whole country that only common prisoners have been freed, no political prisoners in any prison for now,” he emphasized.
Larrondo described the reported liberations as “prison drainage,” a process by which Cuba simply frees prisoners when it can no longer afford to sustain its prison system. He described it as necessary to “abate the prison costs.”
“The reduction of costs of the prison system has been constant for decades,” Larrondo explained. “Prison drainages in Cuba happen every four years, approximately for much time now. This is not new.”
The human rights activist shared similar announcements of massive prison releases: one liberation in 2019 allegedly freeing 2,604 people and another in 2015 allegedly pardoning 3,522 inmates.
In its latest tally of those jailed for their beliefs in Cuba, covering February, Prisoners Defenders certified 1,214 prisoners of conscience in the country, a record high. Larrondo noted in remarks on Friday that Prisoners Defenders is in the process of concluding the tally for March and has documented “dozens” of new prisoners.
Cuba has been experiencing widespread protests incessantly for years, consistently since the July 11, 2021, protests that gained international attention. Protests escalated last month as nationwide blackouts became more acute, the result of the Communist Party failing to engage in any routine maintenance of its power grid. In the darkness, emboldened Cubans began taking the streets, banging pots and pans and calling for an end to communism. In one case, a group of protesters attempted to burn down the local Communist Party headquarters in Morón, Ciego de Ávila. The response to these protests has been an increase in state violence to stop them.
That violence has especially targeted children, as many of those engaging in protests are minors. In Ciego de Ávila, the relatives of 16-year-old Christian de Jesús Crespo Álvarez confirmed on Friday that he was arrested in the aftermath of the Morón protests, the second such high-profile case. Jonathan Muir Burgos, also 16, was arrested on March 16 for similarly joining anti-communist assemblies.
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