Rick Scott blasts Cuba leadership over prisoner abuse, record jailings

Cuba reached a new record of 1,260 political prisoners as of April 30, and the number climbed to a monthly peak of 1,367 during April, underscoring how far the crackdown has deepened since the July 11, 2021 protests. Senator Rick Scott used that grim tally as the backdrop for a sharp new attack on Cuba’s leadership, tying his message to the case of Alexander Díaz Rodríguez, a protest-linked detainee from Cárdenas, Matanzas.

In a social-media video, Scott accused the Cuban authorities of taking “a young, healthy person,” jailing them for political beliefs, starving them, torturing them and denying cancer treatment. He called the regime “repulsive” and told Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel that he looked forward to seeing them face sentences for crimes against humanity. Scott also displayed a photo of Díaz Rodríguez in the U.S. Senate on April 29, keeping the prisoner case in front of lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

Díaz Rodríguez was sentenced to five years for sedition and contempt after the 11J unrest. Prison records and family accounts paint a brutal decline: he entered Kilo 5½ prison weighing 81 kilograms and was released on April 12 at just 37 kilograms. During confinement, he developed thyroid cancer and hepatitis B, and he was subjected to punishment cells, beatings and forced labor without adequate medical treatment. His mother had publicly pleaded for his life in May 2025, saying only that she wanted her son to survive.

The latest count from Prisoners Defenders also put a broader number on the crisis: 2,048 political prisoners have been recorded since July 11, 2021. The group said it documented 23 new political prisoners in its April report, adding to a pattern that rights monitors say has not eased despite periodic releases and diplomatic maneuvering.

That broader picture is reflected in other rights reporting. Human Rights Watch said in April 2026 that more than 700 political prisoners remained behind bars. Amnesty International said on April 15 that Cuba’s releases were discretionary and lacked transparency. The U.S. Department of State’s 2024 Cuba human-rights report cited arbitrary detention, torture or cruel treatment, harsh prison conditions and political prisoners, while Cubalex said it documented 39 prisoner deaths in 2025 and 56 deaths in custody between January 2022 and January 2024. Scott’s attack landed because the numbers behind it were already so stark, and Cuba’s prison system keeps producing them.