At least five minors detained in Cuba after March protests

Cuba’s post-protest crackdown has reached minors. Cubalex said it identified at least five people under 18 detained in connection with the March 2026 unrest, with documented cases in Ciego de Ávila and Las Minas, a sign that the state’s response to dissent extended beyond adult activists and into teenage arrests.

The detentions land in the middle of a broader wave of anger driven by blackouts, food shortages and Cuba’s worsening economic crisis. Protests and pot-banging spread in Havana and Matanzas after the near-total collapse of the National Electric System on March 7, and later in the month CBS reported that roughly half the country still lacked power even as about 45% of electricity service had been restored nationwide. In that setting, the arrest of minors sharpened fears about how far authorities were willing to go to contain public anger.

The clearest case so far is Jonathan David Muir Burgos, who was reported to be 16 years old. He was detained after the March 13 protests in Morón, Ciego de Ávila. The Provincial People’s Court of Ciego de Ávila rejected a habeas corpus request for him on March 26. Cubalex later said he faced a sabotage accusation and was being held with 13 other protesters linked to the same events. Martí Noticias reported that the Fiscalía Municipal de Morón ordered provisional prison for him.

Pressure around the case has quickly moved beyond Cuba’s courts. A request for urgent precautionary measures was filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Jonathan David Muir Burgos’s behalf. U.S. Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar publicly denounced his detention and demanded his release, while Martí Noticias reported that three Cuban-American members of Congress also called for his immediate freedom.

Human rights groups say the case fits a longer pattern. Human Rights Watch said Cuba continues to repress dissent and that hundreds of critics and protesters remain arbitrarily detained. The group also said rights organizations documented at least 20 people detained after March protests tied to power outages and food shortages. Amnesty International has said organizations have documented between 963 and 1,113 political detentions in Cuba over the past three years, with at least 671 people still in prison as of July 2024.

For Cuban families, the significance is immediate. When the detained include minors, the message reaches deeper than a routine arrest tally: participation in protest can carry consequences even for teenagers, and the legal response is moving fast enough to shape the island’s next round of dissent.