June was marked by the deepening of trends observed in previous months: the energy crisis combined with a growing water and health crisis, while the deterioration of material living conditions and the increase in social discontent coincided with a state response oriented towards control, "state of war" propaganda and the containment of protest.

The prolonged power outages not only affected the electricity supply: they disrupted the pumping of drinking water, hampered food preservation, limited mobility, and compromised the operation of health centers. This situation demonstrates a widespread impact on access to water, food, healthcare, and other services essential for a dignified life.

As a result, Cubalex recorded a new historical record of protests in Cuba: 253 throughout the month., 20 more than in March, with a daily average of 8. On June 19, coinciding with several consecutive days of electricity generation deficit, 31 protest events were recorded in public spaces in a single day, marking a new historical peak, surpassing the 30 registered on May 13, since Cubalex began documenting them in 2022.

Havana remains the epicenter, with 176 protests, and a shift is observed from the outskirts to the city center, particularly in the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución (El Vedado), Diez de Octubre (Santo Suárez), and Playa. The provinces of Santiago de Cuba, with 35 protests, and Villa Clara, with 17, confirm their roles as the second and third largest centers of mobilization, representing a significant change. compared to May, when Ciego de Ávila and Holguín appeared as secondary hotspots.

Documented forms of protest include increasingly frequent pot-banging demonstrations. during the day, burning of trash y tires, street closures, Stones thrown at police stations y banks, graffiti against the government y against Raúl Castro, and at least one case of repression with riot police.

Incidents of insecurity were the second most frequent category in the context. In June, 28 homicides were documented, 10 of which were femicides, representing a slight increase. Regarding May, one of the women was murdered. allegedly by her ex-partner during a blackout in Camagüey, a pattern that illustrates how the energy crisis can exacerbate the risk to women. Incidents of domestic violence were also reported, and community linked to precariousness, including several armed robberies.

There were also three suicides or attempted suicides recorded in the month, a figure that corresponds to cases captured in open sources and probably underestimates the real magnitude of the mental health crisis in Cuba.

The health crisis exposes a weakened system, incapable of responding adequately to risk situations and protecting people's health and lives. The lack of supplies, personnel, water, hygienic conditions, backup power y timely attention in emergencies It compromises the State's capacity to prevent avoidable harm. Reports on newborns who died due to lack of resources in neonatology, pregnant women with nutritional deficiencies, heart attack patients without care, hospitals without water, cases of denial of medical care, abandonment of chronic cases, corruption, epidemiological outbreaks and the increased rate of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases They show direct impacts on the rights to health and life.

The deterioration of material conditions deepened the erosion of daily life. cash shortage, the rising cost of basic goods, unsanitary conditions, and increased cost of alternatives such as coal They limited the population's ability to feed themselves, cook, move around, care for others, and meet basic needs. In practice, many families devoted more time, money, and effort to survival, bearing the cost of structural failures that should have been guaranteed through effective public services and policies.

As a consequence of deteriorating material conditions and deepening social inequality, those who rely on remittances or support networks are better equipped to face the crisis, while older adults, people without support networks, and families without remittances are left in a more vulnerable situation. Civil society organizations they reported the increase in forms of child labor intended for subsistence.

In parallel, the government implemented new fiscal control measures, including a mechanism that allows the ONAT to directly withdraw funds from bank accounts for tax debts. In several provinces, it was reported that inspectors and police officers "They "converted" cash from private businesses into bank transfers which could not subsequently be withdrawn from banks. These actions increase the insecurity of households and small businesses in a context of inflation and limited capacity for administrative or judicial recourse.

The Cuban government presented a package of 176 Economic and Social Transformations, with measures such as the end of the universal ration book, which would be restricted to retirees and vulnerable populations, the increase of the minimum wage from 2,100 to 3,210 pesos, greater autonomy for state-owned companies and expansion of space for the private sector.

Although these measures indirectly acknowledge the severity of the crisis, their design prioritizes the reorganization of the economic model and fiscal control over the immediate protection of the most affected people. Their main risk lies in shifting the burden of resolving structural deficiencies onto families, local governments, and the non-state sector without first guaranteeing access to food, water, healthcare, transportation, and decent work. Furthermore, by affecting the constitutional property regime, their implementation could require reforms subject to referendum or conflict with the irrevocability of the socialist system, thus placing the Cuban constitutional framework itself as the main legal obstacle for its stable application.

During the month, OFAC issued new prohibitions against Cuban state entities, In addition to imposing sanctions against Alejandro Castro Espín's wife, the designation of CUPET also led to the suspension of operations by Melbana Energy and Vanguard Energy. In this context, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Cuba's sovereign immunity in the Exxon Mobil case, opening the door to further litigation, while an appeals court ruled against Bacardi in the dispute over the Havana Club trademark.

Despite the stalled negotiations between Cuba and the United States, diplomatic contacts were made during the month: the Panamanian government offered its territory as a neutral space to promote bilateral exchange, while Ernesto Soberón, Cuba's representative to the United Nations, reaffirmed the government's willingness to engage in direct dialogue. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department moved forward with the allocation of $100 million for humanitarian aid, while dismissing the regime's announcement of 176 economic reforms, characterizing them as... ""Surface smoke signals.".

Within the framework of the "state of war" narrative, preparations for an "exceptional situation" continued, with Díaz-Canel visiting defense zones, events for "Defense Day" in various provinces, and military exercises by the Western Army. The death of Ramiro Valdés Menéndez was the subject of official mourning. it was reported new activity in facilities linked to electronic intelligence work in Bejucal, as well as the creation of a new Migration Police with broad powers of detention, within the framework of Law 171 on Migration.

Harassment incidents

The Cubalex monitoring team recorded 319 repressive incidents in June, 15 more than in May. This figure, practically unchanged despite the sharp increase in social protests compared to the previous month, should not be interpreted as a stagnation of repression, but rather in relation to the persistent disruptions to internet and telephone service, which continue to hinder the identification of victims and the documentation of repressive acts, as Cubalex has previously warned.

The events occurred in 51 municipalities across all provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, in addition to 5 online events and 3 linked to acts of extraterritorial repression. The provinces with the highest number of registered events were Havana (126), Santiago de Cuba (41), and Camagüey (39), and among the municipalities, Camagüey (35), Santiago de Cuba (31), and Guanabacoa (20).

At least 254 people were affected by these incidents: 58 women and 196 men, around 30 more than in the previous three months. The highest number of rapes was concentrated in Yunaykis Linares Rodríguez (10 incidents), Eduardo Ceballos Pérez (6), Kevin Damián Frómeta Castro (6), Leonel Tristá García (5) and Alexis Padrón Lorenzo (5).

In June, the repression affected two groups in almost equal proportions: activists and members of opposition organizations (521 victims) and ordinary people with no political or organizational ties (481 victims). In other words, almost half of those who suffered repression that month were not known activists, but rather citizens who took to the streets to protest the blackouts and the crisis. This balance was not previously observed. since March, This period also saw a peak in mass protests. Within both groups, those who suffered the most repression were prisoners, human rights defenders, and people of African descent.¹

The 319 repressive events included 608 incidents of harassment, grouped into 45 categories of repression.². The most frequent incidents were violations against persons deprived of liberty (138), police operations (59), transfers (53), arbitrary arrests (52), violence or harassment (45), threats or coercion (41), illegal or arbitrary official summonses (33), and denial of medical care or negligence (32).

In contrast to the previous month, only three targeted communications outages were documented in June. Two of these were linked to the repression of protests, as occurred in Santo Suárez (June 10) and with the prolonged outage in La Güinera (June 2). Although these communications disruptions targeting journalists or activists did not have the systematic character documented in May, at least one affected Berta Soler, a member of the Ladies in White. This decrease does not suggest a moderation of the practice, but rather the impact of the energy crisis and the widespread ETECSA blackouts, which make it difficult to distinguish a targeted outage from a general failure, suggesting that the isolation operated primarily through structural mechanisms.

In June, police surveillance and monitoring operations constituted the single most frequent category after violations against persons deprived of their liberty, confirming the continued use of control strategies that complement arbitrary detention. These operations were concentrated in the provinces of Havana (32) and Santiago de Cuba (13), as well as in the municipalities of Santiago de Cuba (11), Diez de Octubre (6), and Plaza de la Revolución (5), coinciding in most cases with peaks in protests.

The increase in police operations, in a context of militarization documented by Cubalex since January 2026 The fact that this month saw a record high in this type of event contrasts sharply with the decrease in events related to US-Cuba relations. This data reinforces Cubalex's warning that the "state of war" narrative is intended to control the population.

Among the documented cases of systematic individual surveillance during the month were those of Berta Soler, a member of the Ladies in White, who was monitored even while caring for her sister at Calixto García Hospital, and journalists Camila Acosta and Yoani Sánchez, who were subjected to continuous surveillance for their reporting, along with at least ten other individuals affected by this same pattern. The deployment of undercover agents in Havana neighborhoods was also recorded, with the aim of identifying those who had protested in previous days.

In Santiago de Cuba, a specific pattern of deployment of "black berets" (special forces) was documented to prevent the departure of traditional conga groups, considered by the authorities to be a potential source of protest, during the San Juan festivities between June 23 and 29, including the express prohibition of the Los Hoyos conga group by the Communist Party.

June was marked by direct and immediate repression, with 52 instances of arbitrary arrests, some involving multiple detainees, for a total underreporting of 95 victims. Enforced disappearances, interrogations, and detentions resulting from official summonses were also more frequent (10 incidents in each category). The days with the highest number of arbitrary arrests generally coincided with special operations and peak protest periods during the month.

Among the events with multiple victims recorded in the first half of the month, the arrest of four people after a protest in the Santa Amalia neighborhood stood out on June 2, including the former political prisoner. Yunaykis Linares, She was beaten along with her mother in front of children, and her mother was transferred repeatedly throughout the month. That same day, in La Güinera, a protest was followed by a deployment of special forces using drones for nighttime surveillance and a prolonged internet outage, which could indicate a containment strategy ahead of the anniversary of the July 2021 protests, which were particularly intense in both neighborhoods of Arroyo Naranjo.

With the arrests of Yunaikys Linares and, later, Leonel Tristá, Cubalex registers eleven Cases of revocation of release benefits for political prisoners of 11J awarded following the 2025 negotiations.

On June 11, 18 people were reported detained following protests in Micro 7, Santiago de Cuba, and on June 17, 6 people were detained in the area of the "Abel Santamaría" Airport, at the Santa Clara Air Base, although none have been identified. On June 19 Several mothers were arrested in the Casablanca neighborhood of Regla, Havana, for participating in a protest, and were released on bail on the 23rd. That night, at least sixteen other people were also arrested, of whom Four were identified, during the protest in Barbosa, Playa, which was repressed by riot police.

In the second half of the month, a wave of repression was unleashed in Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, following the appearance of anti-government posters. Wilber Álvarez, a former political prisoner from the July 11th massacre, was arrested at his home by State Security agents after returning from an official summons and released days later after posting bail. Following the fire at the Orlando Pantoja Tamayo House Museum in Maffo on June 21st, the persecution of young people from the La Cuba and Lumumba neighborhoods escalated., with several arrests and transfers to the Versailles Operations Center under charges of “sabotage”. Of the at least 10 people arrested, Several are minors who remain deprived of their freedom.

Cubalex requested the activation of two Urgent Actions by the UN Committee against Enforced Disappearances, due to the detention and incommunicado detention. by independent rapper Andrés Matos Alcántara ("Matos MC K-Libre") after the protest in Barbosa, and of ten people from Contramaestre. As a result, a deadline of July 14, 2026 was set for the Cuban State to provide information about them.

In this context of social militarization extreme, he was arrested on June 1 comedian and content creator Eddy Ceballos for entering and documenting an abandoned military installation. He spent several days at Villa Marista, the State Security Training Center, and was later transferred to the Combinado del Este prison. He allegedly faces charges of espionage before a military court, along with his cameraman, who was arrested on June 24.

The pattern of death threats against dissidents recorded since May continues. Former political prisoner Andy García Lorenzo was threatened with a new prison sentence, and even the death penalty, if he disseminated images or provided information about military bases. Meanwhile, former political prisoner and activist Silverio Portal was arrested and taken to the Havana Psychiatric Hospital, known as Mazorra, before being released days later. His case, along with that of Linares Rodríguez, confirms the persistence of use of psychiatry as a tool of political repression.

In June Harassment against independent journalists continued, with arrests, summonses and interrogations being recorded with prolonged detentions, as in the case of Yania Suárez Calleyro, as well as virtual threats to exiled journalists.

A pattern of harassment was documented against at least four evangelical pastors, including arbitrary arrests, summonses, and interrogations. The pastor Alexis Padrón Lorenzo He was physically assaulted by a police officer after confronting leaders during a protest in Regla. He was arrested on June 13 and taken to the Regla National Revolutionary Police (PNR) station and then to Valle Grande prison, where his case was reclassified as "contempt.".

During the month, 6 political prisoners were released: Jonathan David Muir Burgos and two other minors arrested in the Morón protests, Héctor Félix Labrada, Alexeis Serrano y Carlos Alberto MacDonald Ennis, The latter was released on bail of 50,000 pesos after more than two years in pretrial detention, suffering from a maxillary tumor and other chronic ailments.

In June, the financial demands for bail increased significantly compared to previous months. In March, the most frequently applied amount was 20,000 pesos, while in June, individual bail amounts of up to 200,000 pesos were recorded for dentist and former political prisoner Wilber Álvarez.

In a context of widespread precarity, the use of fines and disproportionate bail These forms of economic pressure not only punish but also intimidate, indebt families, restrict personal freedom, and discourage further protests or public denunciations. The lack of transparency and effective accountability mechanisms regarding the allocation and use of these resources exacerbates the problem, preventing an assessment of whether they serve a legitimate purpose or operate primarily as instruments of punishment and control. Thus, the population is trapped between the deterioration of their living conditions and the increasing cost of demanding solutions.

The systematic pattern of violations against people deprived of their liberty persists: poor food, denial of medical care, beatings, punishment cells, incommunicado detention, threats, punitive transfers, and epidemiological outbreaks.

Thirteen incidents related to hunger and/or thirst strikes as a form of protest against prison conditions or arbitrary arrests were documented. Among the strikers, Cubalex monitored Carlos Abrahantes, Julio César Álvarez y Leonel Tristá García, who had to be taken to the hospital due to his critical condition and was later returned under police custody. Political prisoners Wendoline Campuzano Almaguer, Yaquelín García Jaén and Yunaykis Linares Rodríguez They also went several days without consuming liquids.

Events were documented in 55 different repressive centers. The Kilo 8 Special Prison in Camagüey remained the center with the highest concentration of incidents with 23 events, followed by the Combinado del Este in Havana (12), the Las Tunas Provincial Prison "El Típico Nuevo" (12), the Ciego de Ávila Provincial Prison "Canaleta" (8), and the Santiago de Cuba Center for Criminal Operations and Instruction "Versalles" (7).

In the Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey, the most frequent violations were violence or harassment, threats, confinement in isolation, and denial of medical care, particularly affecting political prisoners. Danisbel Labrada Morales, Carlos Alain Abrahantes Valdés, Dixan Gaínza Moré and other inmates such as Fausto René Ramos y Ricardo Román Suárez, who collectively denounced a continuing pattern of corruption, misappropriation of funds, mistreatment, malnutrition, and denial of rights. On June 30, it was documented a complaint of collective beatings and confinement in punishment cells as retaliation for their public denunciations. Cubalex also reported that four people sentenced in 2007 by a military court were also released. They continue to be systematically denied their penal benefits.

In "El Típico Nuevo" of Las Tunas, the political prisoner Lisandro Betancourt He continued to denounce the denial of medical care, and along with other prisoners, a persistent pattern of poor nutrition and disease outbreaks, which particularly affect people over 60. On June 30, the trial against the eight defendants in connection with the "Cuba Primero" movement was held inside the prison itself, while Javier Reyes Peña and Pedro Camacho Ochoa remained in solitary confinement. Cubalex has pointed out the authorities' decision to move the court proceedings to the prison as an additional strategy of procedural opacity.

The Combinado del Este prison maintains unsanitary conditions and a lack of medical care, affecting inmates like Ángel Cuza Alfonso, who suffered from hepatitis in isolation, and Carlos Raúl Perdomo Cancio, who has tuberculosis. Incidents of harassment against the comedian were also reported. Eduardo Ceballos Pérez, who after his transfer was victim of physical violence. The five survivors of the February maritime incident They remain in extremely harsh conditions, demonstrating the persistence of prolonged detentions without due process, particularly in the case of Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez, who has not received adequate medical attention after being shot.

At the Versailles Operations Center and the "Canaleta" Prison in Ciego de Ávila, several incidents were recorded involving minors deprived of their liberty, such as Christian de Jesús Crespo Álvarez. In Prison 1580, known as "El Pitirre," in Havana, 6 out of 7 incidents were related to the systematic denial of medical attention to the political prisoner of 11J. Kevin Damián Frómeta Castro.

Two potentially unlawful deaths were reported this month. A man with Parkinson's disease, reported missing since June 24, died at the Salvador Allende Hospital in Havana and was buried without his family's consent. Additionally, a female inmate died at the Camagüey Women's Prison, allegedly by suicide after being publicly humiliated by the head of the unit. In both cases, it has not been possible to verify the date or the official cause of death.

Thirteen perpetrators were identified in 15 incidents of repression. Among them were several officers from Kilo 8 prison: Daniel José Primelles Cala, head of Internal Order, implicated in six separate incidents; Leonardo Suárez Reyes, director of Kilo 8 prison; Captain Eudis Sánchez Matos, head of Logistics at Kilo 8; and Major Reina. The repeated identification of these officials as responsible for direct acts of repression demonstrates the prevailing impunity in Cuban prisons.