The imposition of increasingly high cash bail amounts It has become one of the mechanisms used by Cuban authorities to restrict the freedom of people prosecuted for political reasons or linked to social protests. An analysis by the Cubalex legal team concludes that, far from functioning as a precautionary measure to guarantee appearance before the courts, bail In practice, they operate as a form of anticipated punishment, economic pressure, and social control.
The investigation examines the current legal framework, the country's economic context, and the evolution of the amounts demanded between 2022 and 2026, identifying a pattern of arbitrary use that particularly affects activists, protesters, and their families.
Law No. 143, "On Criminal Procedure," approved in October 2021, reformed the system of pretrial detention measures in Cuba. According to Article 348, these measures should guarantee the defendant's appearance in court, prevent further criminal activity, preserve evidence, and protect victims.
Among them is the cash bail, provided for in article 355 as an alternative to pretrial detention.
However, Cubalex's legal team warns that the legislation has a fundamental gap: nor establishes no minimum or maximum limit to determine the amount of the bond.
Article 364 merely states that it consists of depositing a sum determined by the competent authority, without offering any objective criteria for calculating it. This leaves instructors of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) and prosecutors with broad discretion to impose amounts that bear no relation to either the crime charged or the economic capacity of the accused.
Without effective judicial control
The analysis also questions the lack of independent controls during the criminal investigation phase.
According to Law No. 143, the imposition or modification of precautionary measures corresponds to the police investigator and the prosecutor, without a judge automatically intervening to review whether the measure is proportional or compatible with fundamental rights.
Although the legislation provides for judicial control mechanisms for pretrial detention, Cubalex points out that in practice the defense faces significant obstacles, including late access to a lawyer and restrictions on adequately examining the case file, which limits the possibility of challenging these decisions.
Furthermore, the law states that If bail is not paid within ten days, the authorities may order the defendant to be placed in pretrial detention., This makes economic capacity a determining factor in preserving freedom during the process.
An economy that makes it impossible to pay
This situation is also situated amidst the deep economic crisis that Cuba is going through.
After years of devaluation of the Cuban peso, the Central Bank issued a 5,000 peso bill in April 2026, reflecting the deterioration of the currency's purchasing power.
Currently, the official average salary is around 6,930 pesos per month, equivalent to approximately between 11 and 13 dollars at the informal exchange rate, while the The minimum wage is 3,210 pesos., a little less than six dollars a month.
Given those incomes, independent economic research estimates that a person needs around 96,060 pesos per month to cover basic expenses for food, transportation, hygiene and health.
In that scenario, Requiring bail of 100,000, 200,000 or even 500,000 pesos is materially impossible for most Cuban families.
“The bail ceases to function as a procedural guarantee and is transformed into an anticipated economic punishment,” the report concludes.
According to the organization, those who do not receive remittances from abroad or lack other sources of financing are practically condemned to enter pretrial detention.
A change of pattern from 2024
Cubalex's monitoring of politically motivated arrests shows a significant transformation in the use of bail.
Between 2022 and 2023, after the protests of July 11, 2021, the amounts imposed generally ranged between 1,000 and 20,000 pesos for protesters and activists.
Starting in 2024, and with greater intensity during 2025 and 2026, Bails of between 100,000 and 500,000 pesos began to be systematically imposed.
The report interprets this increase as part of a “low-intensity repression” strategy, aimed at discouraging future protests through the economic impact on the accused and their families.
One of the documented examples occurred after the protest recorded at the end of May 2024 in Nuclear City (Juraguá), in the province of Cienfuegos.
After the demonstration, the area was militarized and at least ten residents were arrested, including Linet Columbié Ramírez, Maikel Ojeda Rodríguez, Osmani Paz Hernández and independent journalist Erich González Lima.
Authorities imposed an identical bail of 200,000 pesos on all defendants, under charges of public disorder, contempt, and assault.
For the organization, the uniform application of that amount constitutes an example of collective punishment directed against those who participated in protests related to blackouts and the shortage of drinking water.
A mechanism of social control
The combination of legislation without limits on setting bail, the absence of independent judicial oversight, and restrictions on the exercise of defense creates an environment conducive to arbitrariness.
Cash bail has been “distorted” and functions as a mechanism of social control, political neutralization, and economic pressure on activists and protesters.
Furthermore, this practice affects not only the people being prosecuted, but also their families and support networks, many of whom depend on remittances sent from abroad to raise the required sums.
This model weakens due process guarantees and is incompatible with international standards for the protection of the right to personal liberty and a fair trial.