Number of political prisoners in Cuba on the rise

The number of political prisoners being held in Cuba has risen to 136, according to Spain-based pressure group Cuban Prisoners Defenders (CPD)

The number or prisoners has increased by five, according to CBD’s latest monthly report, and which it classifies as ‘prisoners of conscience,’ which refers to people who, in addition to being imprisoned, are under constant threat and many of whom are subject to reimprisonment upon release if they continue to engage in anti-government activism. 

The latest prisoners to be added to CPD’s list as prisoners of conscience are Elio Juan Arencibía Dreque, Ramón Rodríguez Gamboa, Carlos Manuel Arocha del Risco, Yulio Ferrer Bravo and Ernesto Pérez Pérez.   

CPD said it has added 47 new prisoners of conscience to its list over the past year and which, it states, shows an average of four per month and a rising trend of incarceration on the island. 

Cuba’s longest-serving political prisoner is José David Hernán Aguilera, who has been incarcerated for 27 years, according to CPD. 

The CBD is part of the Prisoners Defenders International Network, a legally registered association based in Madrid, and whose focus of action is the promotion and defence of human rights and democratic values.

In June, The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a country report, ‘The Human Rights Situation in Cuba,’ in which the IACHR draws attention to how the island nation’s one-party system implies a lack of participation in political life and free elections. The IACHR also noted that certain social groups are particularly exposed to risk, especially human rights defenders, activists, and political dissidents, who are allegedly victims of short-term arbitrary detentions, processes of criminalisation, and judicial persecution.

The IACHR has made a series of recommendations to the Cuban government regarding these matters.