The Cuban Regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel Pardons 2,010 Prisoners as a Supposed Humanitarian Gesture During Holy Week Amid Strong Pressure from the U.S.

The government of Miguel Díaz-Canel announced through the official newspaper Granma, the approval of a pardon that will benefit 2,010 convicts.

The measure, described by the regime as a “solidary humanitarian and sovereign gesture,” is framed within the celebrations of Holy Week and forms part of the penitentiary benefits established in the law and the Constitution.

According to the official statement, the decision was based on an analysis of the prisoners’ good conduct, the fulfillment of a significant portion of their sentence, and their state of health. Among the beneficiaries are young people, women, adults over 60 years of age, foreigners, and Cuban residents abroad who are close to completing their sentences.

This is the fifth collective pardon granted by the Cuban government since 2011 and the second in 2026 so far. With it, the total number of people benefited in these processes exceeds 11,000. The releases began on Friday, April 3, in several prisons, including the one in La Lima in Guanabo, Havana.

However, the regime has not published the list of names nor has it specified how many of those pardoned are common prisoners compared to those facing charges for political reasons.

Independent sources and activists have indicated that Cuban prisons house around 1,200 political prisoners, according to reports from organizations such as Prisoners Defenders updated at the beginning of 2026.

The statement expressly excludes those who committed violent crimes, sexual offenses, crimes against authority, or serious offenses—categories that the regime frequently uses to criminalize peaceful dissent.

The announcement comes in a context of intense international pressure and an unprecedented internal crisis. The island faces massive blackouts, chronic shortages, and an energy collapse aggravated by the lack of fuel. In recent weeks, the United States, under the Trump administration, has intensified its policy toward Havana, with measures that include strict monitoring of oil shipments and a tightening of the embargo.

Just one month earlier, in March, the regime released 51 prisoners following mediation by the Vatican. Analysts and international media agree that this new pardon is not unrelated to the bilateral tensions or the behind-the-scenes negotiations between Havana and Washington.

The regime itself, through its official channels, presents it as a humanitarian tradition, but the temporal coincidence with U.S. pressure is evident.

This type of gesture is predictable in communist dictatorships that, faced with the outright failure of their economic model, resort to image maneuvers to gain breathing room. Cuban socialism has turned the island into an open-air prison, where selective repression against dissent continues while thousands of common prisoners are released.

It is not an act of generosity, but a political calculation to relieve external pressure without touching the control structures of the Communist Party. The lack of transparency regarding the identity of those released and the persistence of hundreds of political prisoners demonstrate that the regime prioritizes its survival over any genuine opening.

While the Cuban people suffer the misery generated by decades of statism, Díaz-Canel tries to sell the world a “humanitarian gesture” that resolves neither the repression nor the economic catastrophe that he himself administers.

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