The end of 2025 revealed a profound and sustained deterioration of life in Cuba. December starkly condensed the accumulated effects of a crisis that is no longer temporary: it is structural, pervasive, and pervasive. The collapse of basic services, the precariousness of the healthcare system, the rise in violence, and persistent state repression marked the end of the year, directly impacting the exercise of economic, social, civil, and political rights.
The prolonged blackouts—which in many areas lasted more than a full day without electricity—not only disrupted daily life but also exacerbated the health and environmental crisis. The accumulation of garbage, the proliferation of mosquito-borne diseases, and the lack of hygiene combined with an overwhelmed healthcare system. While official discourse downplayed the impact, citizen complaints and independent reports revealed a far more serious reality.
Insecurity and violence continued to rise in various parts of the country. Economically, the year ended with many families unable to afford even basic necessities. Scarcity, high prices, and new economic controls contrasted sharply with official pronouncements of stability and growth that were not reflected in the daily experiences of the population. The gap between the official narrative and documented reality continued to widen.
The political landscape was also marked by significant movements within the power structure: changes in high-ranking positions, reconfigurations in key institutions, and decisions made without public explanations or accountability mechanisms, reinforcing opacity as a governing practice.
In this context, state repression remained a central and systematic element. Cubalex documented human rights violations throughout the country, with particular intensity in certain provinces and on symbolic dates. International Human Rights Day once again became a day of control, surveillance, and punishment: police operations, house arrests, summonses, arbitrary detentions, and selective internet shutdowns were concentrated in just a few hours against activists, independent journalists, opposition members, and relatives of political prisoners.
Prisons continued to be particularly dangerous places. Food shortages, lack of medical care, reprisals against those who report abuses, and arbitrary transfers remained common practices, in some cases leading to short-term enforced disappearances.
Despite the repression, social discontent was once again expressed in citizen protests, symbolic actions, and spontaneous demonstrations in various parts of the country. The state's response was, once again, criminalization: arrests, fines, summonses, and subsequent persecution, even to identify and punish those who participated anonymously.
Finally, Cubalex identified a recurring pattern of arbitrary use of criminal law to punish the exercise of freedom of expression, particularly through the concept of “propaganda against the constitutional order.” The law once again functioned as a tool of control and punishment, not as a guarantee of rights.
This report It is based on hundreds of records collected and verified throughout December 2025. It does not aim to fully understand the scope of the crisis, but rather to contribute to understanding its patterns, its reach, and its real impact on the daily lives of the Cuban population. The figures, cases, and detailed analysis contained in the full report allow us to grasp the scale of a reality that the State insists on denying, but which continues to shape daily life in Cuba.