The 16 citizens of Granma detained for participating in the peaceful protests that occurred in March 2024 received their tax requests.
Miami, United States. – Julio César Vega, activist of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and political prisoner, denounced from jail Fiscal requests against 16 citizens arrested after participating in peaceful protests in March 2024 in the province of Granma.
According to Vega, conviction requests seek to “terrorize and frighten all people who, like them, want to claim a constitutional right that corresponds to them.”
The demonstrations of March 2024 marked the first mass protests of that year on the island. According to The monthly report of the Cubalex Legal Information Center corresponding to March 2024, these social mobilizations “were the epitome of an accumulation of small protests”, detonated by the acute economic crisis, prolonged blackouts of more than 15 hours, the lack of food, medicines and basic services, as well as the general discontent towards the government.
In particular, the protests of March 17 and 18 in Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Matanzas and Sancti Spíritus constituted the climax of a series of citizen actions in different parts of the country.
In an audio shared in X by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, Julio César Vega said that, after more than a year of violations of due process, “the last June 20 were surprised by tax, manipulated fiscal requests”, including: three years of deprivation of liberty for Danielis Jorge Pui; seven years for Dalis Zamora Rondón; three years for Lázaro Armando Morales Romero; four for David Alexander Téllez Pérez; five for Mario Luis Espinoza Cedeño; six for René Aguilera Aguilar; two years subsidized by house prison for Yudaniel de Jesús Carmona Verdecia; three years of limitation of freedom for Ramsel Miguel Domínguez Reyes; five for Osvaldo Núñez Villavicencio; and three years for Jesús de Nazaré Arzuaga Almaguer, Frankie Carmon Arias, Reinaldo Lucas Leiva Romero, Antonio Zamora Blanco, Ángel Luis Céspedes Cruz, Pedro de Jesús Martínez Rivero and Jorge Aleixi Milanes Cedeño.
📢 Desde prisión, Julio César Vega denuncia las peticiones fiscales contra 16 manifestantes detenidos en marzo de 2024 por protestas pacíficas en Granma. Menciona sus nombres y las altas condenas solicitadas, como parte de una estrategia para infundir miedo.
#Cuba… pic.twitter.com/vn0TYKf8wB
— Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (@observacuba) July 29, 2025
“All [fueron condenados] For just claiming their rights to a normal, stable and healthy life, all tired of so much despair, so much hunger and so much evil that promotes the regime for more than six decades, ”said Vega.
Cubalex documented a total of 388 repressive facts during March 2024 – until that moment, the highest monthly figure since August 2022 – many of them associated with the protests. “The growth recorded during this month of repressive events is linked to the more than 40 public protests during the month,” says the report. In addition to the mass demonstrations, cacerolazos, anti -government posters and local protests such as those of Cacocum and San Andrés, in Holguín were reported.
In parallel to arrests, internet cuts were reported, threats to relatives of detainees and forced disappearances of short duration. Cubalex warned that these actions “directly violate fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, meeting, demonstration and association”, constitutionally protected but not regulated or guaranteed in practice.
Until March 31, at least 37 people had been arrested in relation to protests, of which 19 remained imprisoned. The report highlights that it is a sub -registration, since in cities like Bayamo they were “communicated group arrests with unidentified victims, due to the fear infused by the security of the State and the police to families.”
Vega concluded his statement with a call to solidarity: “We know that they are not even the latter, but the people will continue to fight to obtain what they deserve so much and need: their freedom, their peace and justice.”
