Cuban Prison Riot Erupts as Economic Crisis Deepens: ‘Prisoners Have Risen up Demanding Freedom’
Rights groups Prisoners Defenders and the Cuban Prison Documentation Center (CDPC) said on Thursday that a riot broke out at the high-security Canaleta prison in Ciego de Ávila, central Cuba, citing testimony from an inmate and information gathered by the organizations.
According to the account provided to Spanish news agency EFE, police reinforcements arrived at the facility and used “rubber bullets,” “pepper spray,” and physical force to contain the disturbance. The testimony attributed the unrest to “hunger” and “mistreatment” inside the prison and to dissatisfaction with the Cuban government.
Prisoners Defenders wrote on social media: “Riot in the Canaleta prison, in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba. Prisoners have risen up demanding freedom for Cuba.” The groups said some sources mentioned deaths during the crackdown but that they had not been able to confirm that information.
José Daniel Ferrer García, a Cuban opposition figure, reported the incident on social media, saying: “Riot police troops, gunshots, the protest of political and common prisoners continues with shouts of ‘Patria y Vida.'” He also said inmates were protesting “extreme hunger, abuses, beatings, water shortages, and poor hygiene.”
Ferrer added that prisoners had blocked doors and that authorities brought welding equipment to open them. He also said he had received reports that forces had “already taken one block violently” and warned: “We don’t know what may have happened, if there are injured, if they may have killed someone.”
In a video shared by Ferrer, a prisoner identifying himself as Orlando Almenares Rey said from inside the facility: “they are shooting rubber bullets into the cells and pepper spray,” adding that he was struggling to breathe because he has asthma:
Journalist Javier Díaz also reported the riot, writing on Facebook that relatives of inmates complained about food conditions, describing meals as spoiled and insufficient. Images he shared showed sheets painted with slogans including “SOS,” “Cuba Primero,” and “Patria y Vida.”
The CDPC has repeatedly reported on conditions in Cuban prisons, as EFE points out. The organization recorded at least 60 deaths in the country’s prisons between March 2024 and March 2025 and documented 1,330 alleged rights violations, including harassment, denial of medical care, inadequate living conditions, and food deficiencies.
Originally published on Latin Times
