Cuba holds more than 1,300 political prisoners out of a population of 10 million inhabitants.

Omissions

• The 'more than 1,300' figure comes from a single non-governmental organisation, Prisoners Defenders; there is no official Cuban government count (Havana denies holding political prisoners), so the number reflects one methodology and is not independently corroborated by a second independent dataset.
• Cuba's population is disputed and declining: Cuba's National Statistics Institute (ONEI) put it at about 9.4 million in 2025, down from 9.7 million in 2024, while UN/World Bank-type estimates are around 10–11 million. The '10 million' figure is a rhetorical rounding rather than a precise statistic.
• The trend is upward: Prisoners Defenders recorded 1,161 at end-2024, 1,197 at end-2025, and 1,339 at end-August 2026, so the claim cites the organisation's record figure.

Sources

• PrimaryPrisoners DefendersPrisoners Defenders registers a new record of 1,339 political prisoners in Cuba at the close of August 2026, after 19 additions and 7 removals. Among them are 155 women and 38 people detained when they were minors.
• SecondaryInfobaeCuba cerró agosto con 1.339 presos políticos registrados, la cifra más alta en décadas, según el informe mensual de la organización Prisoners Defenders.
• SecondaryMartí NoticiasPrisoners Defenders alerta que Cuba cerró agosto de 2026 con 1.339 presos políticos, la cifra más alta documentada por la organización.
• SecondaryArab News (citing Cuba's National Statistics Institute)Cuba's population fell to 9.4 million in 2025, down from 9.7 million a year before, according to data from Cuba's National Statistics Institute.