Ariel Manuel Martín Barroso, a professor at the University of Sancti Spíritus, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in September 2025 for painting phrases against the Communist Party regime. Detained on February 25, 2025, he was held incommunicado for five or six months and suffers from severe depression, according to family sources. The case highlights repression against critical academics in Cuba.
Ariel Manuel Martín Barroso, a professor in the Faculty of Technical and Business Sciences at the University of Sancti Spíritus, has not set foot on a university campus in nearly a year. In September 2025, the Provincial People’s Court of Villa Clara sentenced him to a combined 10 years in prison on charges of “propaganda against the constitutional order” and “contempt.” Authorities accused him of writing anti-government slogans on walls at the university and other city locations between 2024 and early 2025.
His cousin Jorge Luis González, living in the United States, told El Toque: “He is an extremely noble person; he’s never been ‘streetwise.’ We didn’t dare publicize this out of fear they would retaliate more against him in prison, but the abuse is already too much and we decided to make his case known.” Martín Barroso was detained on February 25, 2025, and held incommunicado for five or six months, contributing to his severe depression.
The Observatory of Academic Freedom describes the professor as an institutional researcher with prestige and the author of the best doctoral thesis of 2023 in the Faculty of Accounting and Finance at the University of Havana. He earned his PhD in Sciences on January 15, 2024, and served on the National Accreditation Board of the Ministry of Higher Education.
Prosecution witnesses included State Security officer Arianna Rojas Díaz, Interior Ministry officer Dania Iris Rodríguez, university rector Edelvy Bravo Amarante, and provincial Transportation delegate Jose Lorenzo Garcia. The judges were Grisel Santos Suarez, Noralmis Blanco Echarte, and Ricardo Hernandez Domínguez.
He is currently held at the maximum-security “Nieves Morejón” prison in Sancti Spíritus, known for inhumane conditions. González noted that Martín’s mother’s death during the COVID-19 pandemic without adequate medical care was a breaking point: “Cousin, I’m already 40 years old — what am I in life, with so many degrees and studies? What am I in this country? Nobody.”
The Observatory documented at least 18 cases of professors and students repressed since the July 11, 2021 protests. Human rights organizations record between 753 and 1,207 people imprisoned for protests or critical expressions. Economist Mauricio de Miranda Parrono called the proceedings a “vulgar injustice” that “only occurs in dictatorial regimes.”
The Observatory calls for international solidarity. The Ministry of Higher Education and the university did not respond to comment requests.
