Cubalex documents, monitors, and amplifies the case of every person imprisoned in Cuba for exercising a fundamental right. Your donation sustains this work and the free legal assistance we provide to those who seek our counsel and to their families.
People deprived of liberty in Cuba on political grounds, in retaliation, or as punishment for exercising fundamental rights. This coverage seeks to amplify the voices of those still behind bars. It was prepared at the request of international human rights mechanisms and is sustained by Cubalex's continuous monitoring.
This is not a full tally. We publish only what we have been able to learn, document, and verify. The actual number of political prisoners in Cuba is likely higher.
We document a person when there are sufficient grounds to consider their imprisonment politically motivated:
People charged with or convicted of political crimes or crimes against State Security.
People charged with ordinary offences (contempt, assault, public disorder, resistance and others) where the context shows political motivation: punishment for protesting, publishing criticism, practising independent journalism, defending human rights or belonging to independent organisations.
People imprisoned for exercising fundamental rights.
We consider a person deprived of liberty when they remain in State custody for more than 7 consecutive days. Shorter detentions are documented as arbitrary detentions in other sections of the Observatory.
This coverage does not confer legal status nor substitute for individual case analysis. It is a tool for documentation and advocacy.
The province is where the person is from; the prison province is where they are held. The territorial status shows whether they are serving their sentence in their own province or outside it.
Cubalex updates this coverage on a continuous basis and publishes a semiannual review of patterns and trends. Last methodology review: July 2026.
This coverage is connected in real time to our database. Numbers can shift at any moment as we add newly verified detentions, confirm releases, transfers, or changes in a person's situation, and reclassify cases when new information comes in. When citing this coverage, please indicate the date of consultation.
Recently verified: an active source allows us to confirm the person's current situation.
Last verified in 2025: the case was verified that year, but the flow of information broke down due to prison retaliation, communication blackouts, or pressure on families.
Unverified since before 2025: the case was documented in earlier contexts and we have not been able to access recent data.
A case that is not recently verified does not mean the person is free. It means the State has blocked access to information.
People released from prison, whether through extra-penal release, parole, sentence completion, or pardon, do not leave our monitoring. They move to Cubalex's forthcoming coverage of released persons. For now, that space collects aggregate figures and data for our semi-annual analyses. Being released does not always mean being free. Many remain under State control, with open cases or facing the threat of re-imprisonment.
Only essential case data is public: name, age, gender, province, known place of detention, and verification status. We do not publish addresses, dates of birth, ID numbers, contact information, medical records, or information about family members or sources. Cases involving minors receive additional protection.
If you appear in this coverage or are a direct family member of an included person, you can request access, correction, or removal of information through our secure form. Complete the form here. In situations of risk, we temporarily withdraw the information while your request is reviewed.
This coverage is also built with the help of family members, activists, journalists, and people inside and outside Cuba. To preserve the record's integrity and protect the people documented, we receive reports only through our secure form, where we request verifiable data. You can help us confirm where a person is being held, report transfers, releases, or new detentions, send photos, ages, and detention dates that are missing, or correct any inaccurate data. Complete the form here. All information is handled confidentially and used only to document and protect.
Donations made to this special coverage sustain the documentation and follow-up of the specific situation of each person imprisoned in Cuba on political grounds while they remain in prison, and the free legal aid our lawyers provide to those who seek our counsel and to their families.
We document every person on this list, but we can only assist those who seek our counsel. Each person decides which organization to work with.
Cubalex files Form 990 with the IRS every year, and it is publicly available. View our Form 990 here. For security reasons, we do not disclose who receives our assistance, as doing so would put the people we serve in Cuba at risk.
