Cuba will release 51 people from prison in an unexpected move

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s government said Thursday night that it would release 51 people from the island’s prisons in an unexpected move.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the release in the upcoming days stems from a spirit of goodwill and close relations with the Vatican.

The government did not identify who it would release, except to say that “all have served a significant part of their sentence and have maintained good conduct in prison.”

The announcement was made just hours Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel is scheduled to speak early Friday in another rare meeting with the press “to address national and international issues.”

The government said it has granted pardons to 9,905 inmates since 2010. It added that in the past three years, another 10,000 people sentenced to imprisonment were released.

In January 2025, Cuba released prominent dissident José Daniel Ferrer as part of a government decision to gradually free more than 500 prisoners following talks with the Vatican.

Ferrer left Cuba last October and is now in the United States.

He was one of several prisoners released in early 2025 as part of talks with the Vatican. The releases began a day after President Joe Biden’s administration announced his i...