Havana/A coalition of independent media in Cuba makes available to its audiences the #ALL platforma tool based on data journalism that makes visible the releases of political prisoners starting in January 2025.
This website complements and amplifies the monitoring of the process by participating media, activists and civil society organizations such as the Cuban Human Rights Observatory, Prisoners Defenders, Justicia 11J and Cubalex.
The reports of those released from prison are registered in a database that includes confirmed information from the monitoring that civil society organizations have been carrying out methodically for years. The number of political prisoners obtained after comparing the records of different civil society organizations amounts to 1,396 people so far. The list is considered an under-registration, since there may be inmates who have not made their complaint public. Organizations are constantly working on updating this data.
The resulting support allows the generation of statistical analyzes that reveal trends and monitor the official story on releases.
The resulting support allows the generation of statistical analyzes that reveal trends and monitor the official story about releases.
The first conclusion that becomes clear is that the 553 people that the Cuban regime assured its foreign interlocutors that it would “free” were not all prosecuted for political reasons. It was suspected that this would be the case when the official statement referred to the beneficiaries of the measure as “prisoners for various reasons”; but this independent registry will allow us to see to what extent detainees for political reasons are included, in scenarios before, during and after the social outbreak on July 11, 2021.
The data compiled also shows that it is not a “release” but rather a process of release from prison under legal figures such as “conditional release” and “extra-penal license,” which oblige those sanctioned to maintain what the authorities consider “ good conduct” as a guarantee of not returning to detention centers.
The support of citizens is also important to identify those released from prison who do not appear in the records.
It is possible to see that the vast majority of those released had served more than half of their sentence, and therefore were entitled to benefits such as those that official propaganda now presents as an exceptional humanitarian act. Likewise, the frequency of the use of crimes such as contempt, disobedience and sedition to politically channel citizens who participated in public protests or actively oppose the Communist Party is observed.
#ALL takes its title from the way in which hundreds of Cuban citizens demand on social networks that all politically prosecuted people be released and not just a small group. The support of citizens is also important to identify released prisoners who do not appear in the records, which can be done through a form included on the website.
The initiative, initially composed of 14ymedio, Tense Wings, Inverted Tree, CyberCuba, The Sneeze, The Touch, Havana Times, Cuba Time, Neighborhood Journalism and Rialta; extends its invitation to other media and projects that want to join and contribute to the expansion of this tool, which will be relevant as long as there is a person imprisoned in Cuba for their ideas and political actions.
