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The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) documented at least 387 acts of repression in Cuba in October 2026, according to the monthly report the Madrid-based group released on Nov. 6.
The figure is higher than the 356 recorded in July, 304 in August and 344 in September, according to the organization’s monthly reports.
Of the total, 30 were arbitrary arrests and 357 were other abuses, including threats, harassment, police summonses and prosecutors’ sentencing requests.
Havana, Matanzas and Villa Clara were the hardest-hit provinces.
The observatory also counted 145 instances of police surveillance and house sieges targeting independent journalists, activists, dissidents and relatives of political prisoners, aimed at keeping them from leaving home or attending public and religious events.
“The regime is increasing repression to get activists to leave the country, to intimidate the population and to pressure the United States and the European Union. None of that will solve the serious structural crisis or the mistrust within the elite itself. Cuba is headed for a process of political, economic and social transition,” Yaxys Cires, the OCDH’s director of strategy, said in the report (translated from Spanish).
The OCDH also received 73 complaints from political prisoners, common prisoners and their families about conditions behind bars.
Acts of repression in October: former political prisoners, activists and an evangelical pastor
According to the OCDH, October’s arbitrary arrests mainly targeted activists, dissidents, former political prisoners, independent journalists, religious leaders and citizens who protested peacefully. The report also documents arrests linked to religious activities, humanitarian aid efforts and complaints about basic services.
Those detained include former political prisoners Alexander Díaz Rodríguez and Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas Hernández, activists Mario Alberto Hernández Leyva and José Antonio Riquenes Rodríguez, and July 11 protesters Abdiel Cedeño Martínez and Dairon Yunior Labrada Linares, who were arrested while reporting to authorities as required after their release from prison.
On Oct. 1, the day of the trial of Christian influencer Anna Bensi and her mother, Caridad Silvente, authorities deployed police operations to keep activists and members of civil society from accompanying them and to stop independent journalists from covering the case.
Hours before the trial, evangelical pastor Rolando Fidel Pérez Lora, known as “Pregonero de Cristo” (Herald of Christ), was arrested on his way to the Municipal People’s Court in Habana del Este to support Bensi and her mother. Officers of the National Revolutionary Police arrested him violently, the report says. Complaints shared on social media said he was thrown to the ground before being taken away.
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That same day, according to the report, journalists Yoani Sánchez and Camila Acosta, writer Ángel Santiesteban-Prats, journalist Reinaldo Escobar, Ladies in White leader Berta Soler and former political prisoner Ángel Moya reported police sieges and orders not to leave their homes. Acosta said she was besieged and threatened again on Oct. 28.
The Ladies in White reported police sieges every Sunday in October to keep them from attending Mass.
Abuse of political prisoners: physical attacks, isolation and denied medical care
Inside prisons, the OCDH report recorded at least 63 abuses against political prisoners in October, including physical attacks, threats, solitary confinement in punishment cells, denial of medical care and medicine, restrictions on family contact and arbitrary transfers.
Carlos Alain Abrahantes Valdés, Ediolvis Marín Mora and Virgilio Mantilla Arango reported punishment, being held incommunicado and a lack of medical care in prisons in Camagüey.
Yandi Dita Rodríguez and Roilán Álvarez Rensoler were physically attacked. Independent journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro was held in prolonged isolation, and political prisoner Denys Hernández Ramírez reported death threats.
Amaury Díaz García, Danisbel Labrada Morales and Yunaykis Linares Rodríguez went on hunger strike to protest prison conditions and restrictions imposed by prison authorities.
Lack of medical care was among the most frequent complaints. The report cites Saylí Navarro Álvarez, Félix Navarro Rodríguez, Jorge Bello Domínguez and Ana Ibis Tristá Padilla, who have health problems and struggle to get specialized treatment.
Prisoners and their families also reported restricted visits, suspended phone calls, insufficient food and poor sanitary conditions in several prisons.
Police summonses and prosecutors seeking up to 13 years
The report lists at least 12 police summonses, several involving interrogations and threats of prison by State Security, and at least 35 people charged in four criminal cases.
In Ciego de Ávila, provincial prosecutors are seeking up to 13 years in prison for 18 people who took part in the March 13, 2026, protests in Morón.
The pressure continued into November. Reinaldo Escobar reported that State Security detained Yoani Sánchez in Havana, and Anna Bensi said police had surrounded the home she shares with her mother.
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