As Cuba suffers food and fuel shortages and electrical grid collapses, the communist Castro dictatorship is focusing on what it does best: repression. The Cuban regime’s latest wave of repression comes as more Cubans are protesting the misery they are suffering on account of the Castro government’s corruption and incompetence. The latest number of political prisoners in Cuba is now quickly nearing 1,200, and those are just the ones that have been documented.
The ongoing repression in Cuba continues to escalate, with a significant rise in the number of political prisoners. November marked a peak with 34 new arrests. According to figures from the human rights organization Prisoners Defenders, the total count of political detainees in November reached 1,148, with 34 new incarcerations that month.
This number merely scratches the surface of a relentless crackdown, which has shifted its focus from primarily targeting activists to now affecting ordinary citizens. Out of the 34 new political prisoners, 30 were apprehended during recent demonstrations on the island, where thousands of Cubans protested mainly due to the lack of basic services like water and electricity.
Among the newly detained are 17 individuals from Villa Clara, three from Ciego de Ávila, two from Camagüey, seven from Santiago de Cuba, and one from Pinar del Río.
Unwilling and incapable of solving the rapidly expanding crisis, the Cuban dictatorship is simply imprisoning those who speak out. This is socialism in action.