HAVANA — Cuba announced Monday that it had sanctioned 381 individuals, including 16 youths aged 16-18 who took part in the protests last summer, which were the largest Communist-run island protests since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.
Widespread protests in cities and towns across Cuba saw thousands of Cubans take to the streets against the government’s July 11th and 12th 2021 policies. Many protestors shouted “freedom” and marched against power, medicine, and food shortages in the face of a rise in coronavirus cases.
According to the statement by the attorney general, 297 of the 381 sanctioned people were sentenced to between 5 to 25 years imprisonment for crimes of sedition and sabotage with force and public disorder.
According to the prosecutor’s office, 84 people were not sentenced, which included 15 young people. It warned, however, that harsher sentences could be imposed on those who violate their sanctions or engage in new criminal offenses. Cuba’s criminal age is 16 years.
The statement stated that “The Attorney General’s Office continues inform the public about legal response to events of July 11, 2021 which attacked the constitution order and the stability in our socialist state.”
In January, the Cuban government stated that 790 people including 55 children under 18 years old were charged with participating in the protests. However, some of these individuals are still awaiting sentencing, or appealing the sanctions.
The European Union, U.S. government, and human rights groups claim that the trials are not transparent and they have repeatedly called for the release and compensation of the sentenced.
The Cuban government had previously accused the United States that they were financing and instigating these demonstrations.
