LIMA, Peru – Cuban professor Ariel Manuel Martín Barroso was sentenced to 10 years in prison for painting anti-government messages and against Miguel Díaz-Canel, reported the Academic Freedom Observatory (WAVE).
The platform confirmed that Martín Barroso, 42, is serving a sentence for political reasons after being arrested in February 2025 and subsequently sentenced to prison on charges of “propaganda against the constitutional order and contempt.”
At the time of his arrest, the professor was part of the faculty of the Faculty of Technical and Business Sciences of the University of Sancti Spíritus “José Martí Pérez”, and also a member of the National Accreditation Board (JAN) of the Ministry of Higher Education of the Island.
“Researcher and teacher with institutional prestige and among the student body, he was monitored by the agents of State Security that monitor the campus,” says OLA.
According to the Observatory, during the judicial process the agents testified against Martín Barroso based on arguments such as “that he was always suspicious (…) due to the way he conducted himself against the revolutionary process.”
The objective causes of the criminal process were those painted with anti-government phrases, fundamentally against the figure of the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel, whose authorship the academic did not retract either during the investigation of the case or in the trial.
“We appeal for solidarity, support and amplification of such a serious violation of human rights in the confidence of the support of institutions and organizations related to the defense and safeguard of the global academic community,” highlights the OLA publication.
Beyond a decade in prison, the sentence issued on September 8, 2025 by the Popular Provincial Court of Villa Clara, Chamber of Crimes against State Security, includes the prohibition of working as a professor in student centers and other restrictions that prevent him from frequenting certain places, such as the university where he worked.
