Cuba says it has released more than 2,000 prisoners as Trump administration piles pressure on island
The Cuban government said late Thursday it had pardoned and released 2,010 prisoners, a drastic move that comes as the island nation faces intense pressure from the Trump administration, including. fat restriction that – until recently – cut off oil exports.
Calling it “an act of humanity and independence,” the Cuban Embassy in the US announced the release of prisoners on X. It said those freed include young people, women, people over 60 years old, Cuban citizens living abroad and foreign nationals. Prisoners with various violent crimes were not eligible, according to the embassy.
It is not clear whether any political prisoners were included in the release. The non-profit organization Prisoners Defenders has counted 1,211 political prisoners in Cuba.
The Cuban government said the mass pardon was the second release of prisoners this year. Last month, a a small group of 51 detainees they were released.
A US State Department spokesman said the agency was “aware of reports of impending prisoner releases, although it is unclear how many, if any, political prisoners will be released.”
“We continue to call for the immediate release of hundreds of other brave Cubans who are still unjustly imprisoned,” the spokesman continued.
The release of the prisoners comes as Cuba gets at least partial relief from power problem that crippled the island. Earlier this year, the Trump administration threatened reducing the high prices of any countries that export oil to Cuba, causing fuel shortages as shipments stopped for several months.
But earlier this week, the US is allowed a Russian-flagged oil tanker authorized to dock in Havana with more than 700,000 barrels of oil. Russia has said it is planning to send a second tank, which will supply the wire to Cuba.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters this week that the Trump administration decided to allow the first ship to pass for “humanitarian reasons.”
President Trump said last weekend: “We have no problem with someone getting a boat because they need it … they have to survive.”
But Leavitt said US policy toward Cuba has not changed, and future decisions on whether to allow tankers access to the island will be made on a “case-by-case basis.”
Mr. Trump has put pressure on the Cuban government in recent months, as administration officials suggest they want to see major changes in the country’s governance. The US president floated the idea of ”taking over Cuba somehow” last month.
“Or I release it, take it, I think I can do whatever I want with it,” he told reporters.
The Trump administration has taken an aggressive stance on foreign policy in recent months. US military presents a difficult task In January to take the former President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro, an ally of Cuba, and for about five weeks, the US caught in the air war against Iran.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump said “Cuba will be next,” calling it a “failing country.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suggested that Cuba – whose communist system has endured, with some changes, since the rise of Fidel Castro in 1959 – needs new leadership.
“I think Cuba needs two things: economic reform and political reform. You can’t fix its economy if you don’t change its system of government,” Rubio told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday, calling its leaders “dysfunctional.”
“They’re in big trouble,” Rubio said. “There’s no doubt about it. And you know, we’re going to have a lot of news on that very soon. We’re working on that as well.”
The Trump administration participated in talks with Cuba, both sides agreed, and the former president of Cuba, Raúl Castro, participated.
But Cuba rejected the proposal of Mr. Trump that he would like to control the country. President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez warned last month that “any foreign invader will encounter insurmountable resistance.”
