In the spirit of the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025, the Cuban State releases persons serving sentences. 

As part of the close and fluid relations with the Vatican State, the Government of Cuba has kept in communication with Pope Francis and his representatives and, as in the past, has informed His Holiness about processes of review and release of persons deprived of liberty, a practice that is common in our justice system and that has characterized the humanitarian trajectory of the Revolution.

As a manifestation of this practice and under the provisions of the national legislation, more than 10,000 persons punished with deprivation of liberty were released from prison between the years 2023 and 2024, with different modalities of benefit provided by law.

In June 2023, President Miguel Díaz-Canel paid a visit to the Vatican and had a meeting with the Supreme Pontiff, which was preceded by a meeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, in August 2022.  Among other matters of mutual interest and international events, during these meetings, information on this issue was conveyed and the unfair nature and harmful effect of the U.S. policy towards Cuba was discussed in depth. His Holiness has given clear signs of sympathy and affection towards the Cuban people.

In the first days of January, President Díaz-Canel addressed a letter to the Supreme Pontiff in which, in the spirit of the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025 declared by His Holiness, and which has just begun, he communicated the decision to benefit with the granting of freedom to 553 persons sanctioned in due process for various crimes contemplated in the law. The releases are carried out on the basis of a careful analysis, based on the different modalities contemplated in the legislation, and as part of the fair and humanitarian nature of Cuba's penal and penitentiary systems. These persons will receive their respective benefits gradually.

We maintain with the Vatican and the Supreme Pontiff a respectful, frank and constructive relationship, which facilitates decisions such as the one just taken, within the requirements established by the legislation in force, the humanitarian sense of the Cuban justice system and the fulfillment of the obligations with the internal order and citizen security.

Havana, January 14, 2025