Cuba’s government has announced the release of 2,010 prisoners, marking the largest such amnesty in years and highlighting the island’s deepening economic turmoil under intensified U.S. pressure.
The decision, detailed in the Communist Party’s official Granma newspaper on Thursday, considers inmates’ good behaviour, health conditions, and the gravity of their crimes. It covers young people, women, those over 60, and foreigners, while sparing anyone convicted of murder, homicide, sexual assault, or offences against authority.
Human Rights Watch has criticised Cuba’s pattern of jailing dissidents, including journalists, activists, and protesters, with more than 1,000 such cases logged since the 2021 demonstrations.
Officials tied the pardons to “the religious celebrations of Holy Week” for Easter, but the move coincides with a crippling energy shortage. President Trump’s administration has choked off oil supplies through actions in Venezuela and tariff warnings to Mexico, leaving power plants starved of fuel.
March saw two nationwide blackouts in a week, plunging 11 million Cubans into darkness and halting schools, factories, and long-haul flights. Reuters projects an 8% GDP drop this quarter, worsening food shortages and emigration, with over 500,000 departures since 2022 according to UNHCR.
Trump recently allowed a Russian tanker to deliver fuel, saying “They have to survive.” The White House stressed this was “not a policy change.”
The amnesty recalls a 2025 deal with the U.S. and Vatican that freed 553 prisoners, paused then completed despite Trump’s reversal. Since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution ousted the U.S.-backed Batista regime, a longstanding embargo has blocked trade and investment, costing Cuba more than £100 billion by its estimates.
Trump, backed by Cuba hardliners like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, insists on economic liberalisation to prevent collapse. He has frequently talked about wanting to “take Cuba.”
Tourism, vital at 10% of GDP, has fallen 40% this year per WTTC data, as the nation grapples with blackouts and scarcity.