At Least Seven Underage Political Prisoners Detained in Cuba: Here's Who They Are

The human rights organization Cubalex has confirmed that at least seven teenagers under the age of 18 are currently detained in Cuba for reasons connected to protests or politically motivated criminal charges, as detailed in a report released on Friday.

The teenagers identified are Cristian Fernández Sarmiento (16 years old), Alex Javier Hernández González (13 years old), Ander Magdiel del Toro Suárez (15 years old), José Jorge Menéndez Vázquez (17 years old), Cristian de Jesús Crespo Álvarez (16 years old), Leroy Hernández Escalona (17 years old), and José Ángel Borrero (17 years old).

Three of these youths—Ander Magdiel del Toro Suárez, José Jorge Menéndez Vázquez, and José Ángel Borrero—were detained in June following the fire at the Maffo Museum in Contramaestre, an incident that occurred amidst protests over power outages and scarcity in Santiago de Cuba. They are currently held at the State Security center known as Versalles in Santiago de Cuba, as confirmed by activist Anamely Ramos.

Also detained at the Versalles facility is 16-year-old Cristian Fernández Sarmiento, who was arrested in June during demonstrations in the Altamira neighborhood. His grandmother, Soraya Cardosa, aged 83, has publicly stated that Cristian has significantly lost weight and that authorities refuse to provide information about his case.

Youngest Detainee Sparks Concern

The most concerning case due to the detainee's age is that of Alex Javier Hernández González, who is only 13 years old, making him the youngest currently documented by Cubalex. He was violently arrested on July 22 during protests in Santiago de las Vegas, Havana, and was first taken to the Calabazar police station before being moved to a juvenile detention center known as El Combinadito.

Cuban law states that minors under 16 are not criminally responsible and should not be held in detention centers but rather in so-called Schools of Comprehensive Training.

Cristian de Jesús Crespo Álvarez, aged 16, remains imprisoned since March at the Canaleta prison in Ciego de Ávila, following protests in Morón. In June, he was diagnosed with hepatitis, yet prison authorities informed his family he would not be transferred to a hospital for specialized care.

Prolonged Detention Raises Alarms

The longest-detained adolescent is Leroy Hernández Escalona, 17, who was arrested in September 2025 in Maniabón, Puerto Padre municipality, Las Tunas, during a peaceful protest and continues to be held provisionally.

Cubalex warns that these cases highlight a continued state pattern of criminalizing teenagers in protest situations, employing severe legal charges, and systematically denying due process guarantees.

These seven cases add to that of Jonathan David Muir Burgos, who was 16 at the time of his detention and spent over three months incarcerated in Canaleta following March protests in Morón. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted him precautionary measures in April, considering his life, integrity, and health at risk while in state custody; he was released at the end of June.

Prisoners Defenders reported that as of July 9, Cuba had 1,306 political prisoners, including 40 minors, with 16 held in adult prisons, marking a historic level of repression.

In 2022, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child had already expressed concern regarding the detention of children as young as 13 in Cuba, including nighttime arrests, isolation, prolonged interrogations, and the absence of a juvenile justice system compatible with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.