Eight residents of Las Tunas province, Cuba, could face up to nine years in jail for the crime of 'propaganda against the constitutional order', according to a report by the NGO Cubalex. Authorities link them to the Cuba Primero group and cite as evidence social media interactions and possession of materials related to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The defendants have been in pretrial detention since March and April 2024.
In a case highlighting the use of Cuba's penal system as a tool for political repression, eight people from Las Tunas province face serious charges for expressing political views on social media. Cubalex's report, drawing from the prosecutor's provisional conclusions submitted on July 21, 2025, to the State Security Crimes Chamber of the Santiago de Cuba Provincial Court and signed by prosecutor Iany Fernández Jomarrón, outlines the accusations.
The defendants, linked by authorities to the Cuba Primero movement—deemed 'terrorist' and 'criminal' by the regime and based in the United States—include Javier Reyes Peña, for whom nine years in prison are requested; Adisbel Mendoza Barroso and Guillermo Carralero López, each facing eight years; Carlos Manuel Santiesteban Saavedra, Carlos Alberto McDonald Ennis, Enrique González Infante, and Pedro Carlos Camacho Ochoa, each with seven years; and Maikel Hill Ramírez, with six years.
The prosecution charges them with 'interaction on social networks, especially Facebook, recording and publishing videos with political positions, dissemination of critical content, exchange with users inside and outside the country, and possession of printed materials and pamphlets, including those related to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights'. These actions are portrayed as aimed at 'stimulating adverse opinions' and fostering dissent against the Cuban political system, with no reference to violent acts or calls for violence.
The document also features assessments of the defendants' 'moral and social conduct,' noting behaviors 'at odds with the revolutionary process,' which Cubalex describes as ideological, stigmatizing, and discriminatory elements. For Carlos Alberto McDonald Ennis, suffering from hypertension, diabetes, pancreatitis, heart disease, and a malignant tumor in his nasal cavity, his health has worsened in prison without proper medical care. His family has exhausted legal avenues, including habeas corpus petitions and requests to alter the pretrial measure, receiving no effective response, amid procedural lapses such as undefined charges, lack of evidence notification, and unjustified extensions of legal deadlines.
Cubalex condemns the proceedings as exemplifying the criminalization of peaceful rights expression and calls for the release of those involved. The case occurs amid 165 repressive incidents in November, tied to protests over power outages, water shortages, and epidemics.
