Cubalex warns about the situation of the political prisoner Maikel Armentero Oramas, who has been on hunger strike for 10 days in the Third Unit of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) of Santa Clara. The opposition member started the protest to demand his freedom and that of all Cuban political prisoners.
Armentero Oramas, who was on parole, was arrested on August 14 while protesting in front of the Fifth Police Unit in Santa Clara, demonstrating against the prolonged power outages affecting the Cuban population. Agents from the State Security Department (G2) and the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), identified as Darién and Manso, participated in the operation, according to a complaint filed in August by activist Librado Linares from the province.
Following his arrest, Armentero was transferred to the Third Unit of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) in Santa Clara, where he remains in custody. His mother, Josefa Oramas, confirmed this Thursday that The authorities also imposed a fine of 4,000 pesos on him, which he had to pay within three days to avoid a new trial related to the protest he led the previous month.
However, Authorities have already confirmed the revocation of his parole, Therefore, he will have to return to prison to serve the remainder of the six-year sentence imposed on him for his participation in a protest at the Santa Clara funeral home in August 2021.
Armentero's situation has become complicated again during 2026, a year in which he has faced new arrests and actions by the political police that have jeopardized the prison benefits that allowed him to remain out of jail. Last April, he was also detained for several weeks amid threats of having his parole revoked.
From the beginning of 2026 until the end of August, Cubalex monitoring has recorded 54 repressive events against 28 protesters from 11J who were out of prison when these events occurred.
Among the incidents documented by Cubalex are arrests, surveillance, threats, summonses, and other forms of harassment directed against protesters who had already been released from prison after serving their sentences or receiving some form of prison benefit. Particularly worrying is the use of revocations of prison benefits as a mechanism of persecution against people who had already regained their freedom.
During 2026, Cubalex has documented at least five cases of people imprisoned for political reasons linked to 11J who had been released and subsequently returned to prison: Denis Hernández, Yoan de la Cruz, Yunaykis de la Caridad Linares, Leonel Tristá García and José Enrique Pablo Oliva.
This figure represents an undercount and, therefore, may be higher. The monitoring also does not include repressive acts that may occur against these same individuals once they are re-incarcerated.
Cubalex demands respect for the rights of Maikel Armentero Oramas and all those imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba, as well as an end to the persecution of the July 11 protesters who remain free. The organization finds it especially concerning that the revocation of prison benefits is being used to prolong imprisonment and punish further expressions of peaceful protest.