The Cuban regime sentences eight Cuba Primero opponents to up to eight years in prison

📰 Coverage by ClickCuba — read the original article · Facebook post

ClickCuba has reported that the Provincial People’s Court of Las Tunas sentenced eight Cubans linked to the opposition movement Cuba Primero to seven and eight years in prison. The charge is “propaganda against the constitutional order,” set out in article 124 of the Cuban Criminal Code. The trial, case 2 of 2025, was held without publicity and under a heavy presence of state agents.

The longest sentence, eight years, went to Guillermo Carralero López. The other seven, sentenced to seven years each, are Javier Reyes Peña, Maikel Hill Ramírez, Carlos Manuel Santiesteban Saavedra, Carlos Alberto McDonald Ennis, Enrique González Infante, Pedro Carlos Camacho Ochoa and Adisbel Mendoza Barroso.

It is worth pausing on what the court entered into evidence. According to the coverage, the case file includes membership videos recorded for Facebook, social media posts, documents on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, material bearing the logo of the United Nations General Assembly, a Redmi Note 9 phone seized from González Infante, a DVD with promotional videos, and a printout with the Cuban flag.

And a pamphlet containing fragments of Ser culto es el único modo de ser libre (“To be educated is the only way to be free”). That line is José Martí’s, from his essay “Maestros ambulantes,” published in the magazine La América in New York in May 1884. The Cuban State entered into a criminal case file, as evidence of enemy propaganda, a text by the man it calls the intellectual author of its own revolution.

Two further elements stand out in the coverage. First: the court held that the defendants received payments of between one thousand and two thousand Cuban pesos and, in the same ruling, acknowledged that “the alleged payments could not be documented.” Second: Cuba Primero was added to the list of terrorist organizations on 14 May 2025, more than a year after the acts being tried, which begin in February 2024.

According to the documents cited, two of those convicted had medical reports in the file. Pedro Carlos Camacho is described as having an “impulsive personality disorder”; Carlos Manuel Santiesteban, “generalized anxiety, pathological personality traits and suicide risk.” Neither report prevented a conviction.

Defense counsel for four of the accused denied that the offense of propaganda existed; two asked for outright acquittal. Those convicted and the prosecution have ten working days to appeal to the Criminal Chamber of the People’s Supreme Court.

Key points
– ⚖️ Provincial People’s Court of Las Tunas · case 2 of 2025
– 📜 Charge: “propaganda against the constitutional order,” article 124 of the Criminal Code
– 👥 Eight convicted: one to 8 years and seven to 7 years each
– 📖 Among the evidence: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a pamphlet with fragments of José Martí
– 💵 The ruling itself admits the alleged payments “could not be documented”
– 📅 Cuba Primero’s designation as a terrorist organization postdates the acts being tried
– 🩺 Two of the convicted had medical reports in the file, including one flagged for suicide risk
– ⏳ Ten working days to appeal to the People’s Supreme Court

📰 Read the original article: ClickCuba