Just as the Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council kicks off, the communist Castro dictatorship has increased the number of political prisoners held on the island, including 34 children. The latest report by NGO Prisoners Defenders documents 16 new political prisoners incarcerated during the month of October, bringing the total of documented political prisoners rotting in Castro gulags to 1,062. The actual number is likely much higher.
Prisoners Defenders documents 1,062 political prisoners in Cuba
At the close of October in Cuba, 16 new political prisoners were recorded, as reported by the organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) on Tuesday, November 14.
According to their latest report, the list “contains a total of 1,062 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience suffering judicial sentences or restrictions on freedom by prosecutors without any judicial oversight or legal defense.”
The organization’s figures indicate that in the last six months alone, 96 new political prisoners have been confirmed in Cuba, averaging 16 per month.
Additionally, PD’s underreporting notes six political prisoners who have been removed from the list in October after completing the entire sentence imposed by the Cuban regime.
The report highlights that there are still 34 minors (30 boys and four girls) on the list of political prisoners; of these, 28 are still serving sentences or facing criminal proceedings.
The children’s statistics do not include many other children who have already been removed from the registry for having completed their sentences entirely.
A significant number of minors are reportedly in allegedly juvenile prisons, but these are facilities entirely of a penitentiary nature.
Euphemistically, the regime on the island refers to these prisons as “Comprehensive Training Schools,” which do not fall under the Ministry of Education but rather the Ministry of the Interior.
Regarding women, the number of female prisoners reaches 118, including several transgender individuals who are imprisoned among men, “enduring indescribable situations related to their sexual identity.”
Given the ongoing human rights violations in Cuba and the infringement upon basic freedoms of the country’s citizens, the report appeals to the regulatory role of the United Nations.
In this regard, it states: “It is up to the diplomats and representatives of the States in the United Nations to elevate the level of the Periodic Review of Cuba and to aid a people suffering from repression, hunger, and thirst.”