Cuba is holding 1,306 political prisoners, the highest tally ever recorded, as the government moves to suppress dissent before the fifth anniversary of the July 11, 2021 mass protests. Thirty-two new political prisoners were documented in June alone, and 40 current detainees were minors at the time of their arrest, according to the NGO Prisoners Defenders.
The rights group reported systematic denial of medical care as a tool of repression and said authorities have intensified targeted arrests of journalists, artists, religious leaders, and young people in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the whereabouts of artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara remain unclear after he was released from a maximum-security prison two days before July 9, according to the group Justicia 11J.