Cuba to release 51 prisoners after Vatican talks

Cuba's Minister for Foreign Affairs Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla addresses the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 27, 2025. [AFP]

Cuba said Thursday that it would soon release 51 prisoners as a sign of "goodwill" toward the Vatican after talks between Cuban officials and the Holy See.

The announcement by the foreign ministry came after the United States ramped up economic pressure on the communist Caribbean island and threatened regime change.

The Vatican has often attempted to act as a mediator between the two countries.

"In a spirit of goodwill, and close... relations between the Cuban state and the Vatican," the foreign ministry said, "Cuba has decided to release in the coming days 51 prisoners."

It did not provide details of the Vatican talks or identify the prisoners and their crimes, saying only that they had served "a major part of their sentences" and had shown good conduct in prison.

"This sovereign decision is a regular feature of our criminal justice system," the ministry added.

There are currently more than 1,200 political prisoners in Cuba, according to the Spain-based nonprofit Prisoners Defenders.

The Catholic Church is a fixture of Cuban society even though it was officially atheist for three decades, and its leaders have often mediated between Cuba and Washington when tensions flared.

Thursday's announcement came about two weeks after Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. US diplomats had previously met with Vatican officials to discuss the situation in Cuba.

US President Donald Trump said last week that Cuba was next on his agenda after Iran, predicting that the communist-run island, crippled by an ongoing oil blockade from Washington, is "gonna fall pretty soon."

Trump last month suggested a "friendly takeover" of Cuba but has not specified what that could look like.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, has said the island "needs to change dramatically" to improve the quality of life for its people.

Before leaving office in January 2025, former president Joe Biden removed Cuba from a US list of state terror sponsors in return for the communist island agreeing to free 553 prisoners in a deal also mediated by the Vatican.

Trump later reversed the deal but Cuba said it had nonetheless released all the prisoners, including 231 considered political prisoners by rights groups after their arrests during mass anti-government protests in 2021.

In February, Pope Leo XIV expressed "great concern" about rising tensions between Cuba and the United States, calling on all sides to "avoid violence."