Pope Leo met with Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, in the Vatican last month.
Bruno Rodriguez on X.
The Cuban government said Thursday night it is releasing 51 prisoners as a gesture of “good will” with the Vatican amid heightened pressure from the Trump administration to agree to economic and political changes on the island.
“In the spirit of good will and the close and fluid relations between the Cuban State and the Vatican, with which communication has historically been maintained regarding the review and release of prisoners, the Cuban Government has decided to release 51 people sentenced to imprisonment in the coming days,” a government statement said.
The statement did not include the details of the prisoners who will be released, but said that “all have served a significant portion of their sentences and have maintained good conduct in prison.”
It is unclear if this is a one-time gesture or if the Cuban government will continue releasing more of the over 1,000 political prisoners human-rights groups said are currently incarcerated. Cuba does not acknowledge that it holds political prisoners.
Cuba has usually released political prisoners amid negotiations with the United States, most recently in January 2025 when it freed 553 prisoners as “a gesture” to Pope Francis as part of a deal cut with the Biden administration, which removed Cuba from the U.S. list of nations that sponsor terrorism. But only a few dozen political prisoners were released at the time and some were imprisoned again later, like dissidents Jose Daniel Ferrer and Felix Navarro.
Ferrer was finally released last year but sent into exile in the United States as a condition for his liberation. Navarro, his daughter Saily Navarro and other prominent dissidents like artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and musician Maykel Castillo, all convicted for participating in islandwide demonstrations against the government on July 11, 2021, are still in prison.
The Cuban government said that the release of the 51 prisoners was a “sovereign decision” that “is a common practice in our criminal justice system and has characterized the humanitarian trajectory of the Revolution, which this time coincides with the proximity of the religious celebrations of Holy Week.”
The Vatican has said it is involved in efforts to mediate between Cuban leaders and the United States, after the head of the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Mike Hammer, and Cuba’s foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez visited Rome. Italian media reported that Rodriguez, who traveled to Rome as a special envoy of Cubans leader Miguel Díaz-Canel, asked Pope Leo to mediate in talks with the United States.
“For Cuba as well, we have done what we had to do, we met with the foreign minister and we took the necessary steps, always with a view to a dialogue-based solution to the problems that exist,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said in comments to several media outlets in Rome on Monday.
The announcement of the prisoners’ release came shortly after Cuban state media announced that Díaz-Canel will hold a televised press conference at 7:30 a.m. Friday, an unusual time for such events on the island.
After cutting oil supplies from Mexico and Venezuela to the island, President Donald Trump has urged Cuban authorities to make a deal with the United States. His administration is in conversations with several people close to Cuba’s ultimate authority, Raúl Castro, the Miami Herald has previously reported.
In recent days, Trump has reiterated his belief Cuba was “at the end of the line” and its government was about to “fall.” He has also insinuated the United States would “take over” the island.
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 9:46 PM.
el Nuevo Herald
Nora Gámez Torres is the Cuba/U.S.-Latin American policy reporter for el Nuevo Herald and the Miami Herald. She studied journalism and media and communications in Havana and London. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from City, University of London. Her work has won awards by the Florida Society of News Editors and the Society for Professional Journalists.//Nora Gámez Torres estudió periodismo y comunicación en La Habana y Londres. Tiene un doctorado en sociología y desde el 2014 cubre temas cubanos para el Nuevo Herald y el Miami Herald. También reporta sobre la política de Estados Unidos hacia América Latina. Su trabajo ha sido reconocido con premios de Florida Society of News Editors y Society for Profesional Journalists.