Government of Cuba announces release of more than 2,000 prisoners for Easter

The Cuban government announced the release of 2,010 prisoners for Easter on April 2 — the highest number in recent years — amid pressure from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

This measure was granted after a “pardon approved by the Government of Cuba” and after the analysis of a series of circumstances of the prisoners, such as “good behavior maintained in prison, having extinguished an important part of their sanction and state of health,” according to a note from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Among the released prisoners are young people, women, and people over 60 years old. Excluded from the release were those who have committed crimes such as sexual assault, pedophilia with violence, murder, robbery with violence or force with weapons, and “crimes against authority.”

Specifying that it was the “second release” of 2026, the ministry said that the pardons were announced “in the context of the religious celebrations of Holy Week.”

The statement pointed out that this is the governmentʼs “fifth pardon” since 2011, by which a total of “more than 11,000 people have been released.”

In March of this year, the Cuban government announced that it would release 51 prisoners “in the spirit of good will, of close and fluid relations between the Cuban State and the Vatican.”

The release comes as the United States has been cutting off the oil supply in Cuba as a way to pressure the regime to make various political and economic reforms.

Much of the Cuban population has also been experiencing a serious humanitarian emergency due to a lack of food, medicine and health, among other shortcomings.

Palm Beach, Florida Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, himself a native of the Dominican Republican, recently wrote in a March 27 column that he found in Cuba “a deep and increasing humanitarian crisis: raw, visible and deeply human.”

The prelate said that “prayer must lead to action.” To that end, the Diocese of Palm Beach is collaborating with the Cuban bishops to find “all possible ways to provide concrete assistance, especially in urgent areas of food and medical care.”

“This job is not optional. It is a moral imperative,” he said.

This report was originally published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.