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Former political prisoners seek a provisional transition government and releases before any talks
The document presented on Thursday in Miami by former political prisoner Ángel de Fana carries 146 signatures according to 14ymedio and 150 according to Diario de Cuba; it was sent on 10 October to the State Department, which has not replied.
Ángel de Fana, leader of the group Plantados hasta la Libertad y la Democracia en Cuba, presented on Thursday at Miami's Brigade 2506 Museum a letter addressed to the State Department in which the signatories ask that any dialogue with the regime be conditional on the release of all prisoners held for ideological reasons. He confirmed that the document, dated 10 October, was sent and that they have received no reply.
The number of signatures differs by outlet: 14ymedio puts the signatories at 146 so far and Diario de Cuba, which received the document from the political scientist Juan Antonio Blanco (Cuba Siglo 21), speaks of 150 former prisoners. They include De Fana, Sissi Abascal, José Daniel Ferrer, Ernesto Borges, Jorge Luis Artiles and Angélica Garrido. The signatories say they represent no organization.
What is new compared with the earlier presentation is the institutional way out they propose: “It is one thing to provisionally welcome a technocratic, mixed transition government made up of military officers and officials of the former regime with an acceptable record, together with other Cubans from the island and the diaspora. It is quite another to agree to the continuity of the current political system under the hegemony of the power elite,” in a text translated by Yamacoa.
“The demand to release all political prisoners and to impose the definitive decriminalization of dissent are unconditional,” they stress, in a text translated by Yamacoa, and add: “During our prison ordeal we refused to be used as bargaining chips for the regime to obtain international concessions.” On the country's situation they say that “the government's current appeasement strategy is to offer more economic autonomy without political sovereignty.”
De Fana told Cubanet after the news conference: “We do not want there to be any negotiation with those who are to blame for the dramatic situation of the Cuban people,” in remarks translated by Yamacoa. And he added: “There are other Cubans, including military officers and officials, who do not have their hands stained with blood, and with them we are willing to negotiate the democratic future of our country.” 14ymedio places that distinction in line with what Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the United Nations in late September.
The document distinguishes two conflicts, the one between the United States and Cuban governments and the one between the regime and the population, and asks that Washington support Cubans “directly” if repression were to put the population's safety at risk. In the event of a social explosion, the signatories say they would welcome “both those Cuban military officers willing to come over to the side of the people and the United States or any other country” that takes “decisive actions” to prevent a massacre.
Sources: 14ymedio · Diario de Cuba · Serie Yamacoa: Presos políticos en Cuba (Prisoners Defenders)
Data updated: 2026-10-22T17:15:00.000Z