The families of Cuban protesters jailed in anti-government demonstrations are waiting anxiously to see if the government will continue with a planned prisoner release after Donald Trump reneged on a deal made last week by Joe Biden.
Activists from the human rights group Justicia 11J believe about 150 prisoners have been released so far of the 553 agreed with the Catholic church.
Less than a week after it was taken off a US list of state sponsors of terror (SSOT), Cuba was returned to sit alongside Syria, North Korea and Iran – with grim implications for tourism and trade. Trump reversed Biden’s decision late on Monday, amid a flurry of executive orders overturning domestic and international policies of the previous administration.
Related: Biden to remove Cuba from list of state sponsors of terrorism
Biden had caught Cuba watchers off-guard last Tuesday when he removed Cuba from the SSOT list and lifted sanctions against companies linked to the Cuban military.
The measures were not explicitly linked to a simultaneous announcement by the Cuban government that it had agreed to a request by the Vatican to release the 553 prisoners, but most Cubans assumed a quid pro quo.
The families of prisoners who have yet to be released have been expressing their frustrations online. Greisy Oliva, wife of Nadir Martín Perdomo, who was jailed with his brother Jorge on charges of assault and public disorder, wrote: “My kids are anxiously awaiting that freedom call from their daddy. Salet since she was 11 years old and Samir from only six months. This has hit them hard.”
Most of those who have been released have stayed silent about their experiences, having been released on parole. However, a well-known dissident, Daniel Ferrer, who was released on Thursday, immediately went on the US-government funded Radio Martí to say: “Don’t be afraid to fight for a free, prosperous and just Cuba.” Other famous prisoners such as the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara remain in jail.
Prisoners Defenders estimates the total number of Cuban political prisoners – a term the government rejects – to be about 950, a figure Human Rights Watch adopts.
Many of those arrested after massive street protests in Cuba in July 2021 were convicted of crimes such as sedition, including Rowland Jesús Castillo, who was 17 when he was arrested.
Trump’s order was presaged by comments from Marco Rubio, Trump’s Cuban-American secretary of state, during confirmation hearings last week. “There is zero doubt in my mind that [Cuba] meets all the qualifications for being a state sponsor of terrorism,” he said. Outside the US, the designation is widely seen as baseless.
Juan Pappier, the deputy Americas’ director of Human Rights Watch, said: “Cuba systematically violates human rights, it is not a state sponsor of terror.”
Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, responded to Trump’s move by saying the US president was showing “arrogance and disregard for the truth”.
Related: ‘This wasn’t on my bingo card’: surprise at Biden’s last-gasp Cuba sanctions deal
The Cuban government later released a statement saying: “Trump has interpreted his coming to power as the coronation of an emperor. His ambition includes, just to start, the conquest of Canada, the usurpation of Greenland, the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico and the deprivation of the Panamanians of their canal.
However, Díaz-Canel’s government has made no comment about the continuing release of prisoners. “I think it’s an impasse,” said Pappier. “Though it’s encouraging that this was presented by the Cubans as a commitment with the pope.”
Many Cuban exiles, while expressing sadness about the prisoners, were unhappy with the Cuban government being offered concessions at all.
“The hardliners will say that this is a non-event,” said Pedro Freyre, a Miami attorney. “The government released the prisoners on parole but did not grant pardons; in theory they can be sent back to prison very quickly.”
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