The Cuban regime claims it holds no political prisoners. The problem is that it does. More specifically, human rights groups say that it currently holds nearly 1,300 or more, and those are just the ones we know about. It's a historic record. 

While each and every one of them deserves advocacy and attention, there's one who needs urgent attention, and numerous international groups, and our own State Department are speaking out. He is Jonathan Muir Burgos, the 16-year-old son of Elier Muir Ávila, an evangelical pastor of the Tiempo de Cosecha Independent Church in the town of Morón. He is also, perhaps, Cuba's youngest political prisoner or, at least, one of the youngest. 

I wrote about Jonathan, who has a medical condition that has led to serious infections in the past and requires regular medication to prevent that, back in March:  

On March 16, both Jonathan and his father were arrested. His father was released hours later, but Jonathan was interrogated and remains detained for allegedly participating in the ongoing Cuban protests on March 13 and 14, around the time that a Communist Party headquarters in Morón was set on fire. Authorities have threatened to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law for supposedly 'calling for freedom' in Cuba. He's apparently being held incommunicado. 

Jonathan's father has said that he wishes the regime had kept him and released his son, but that's now how tyranny works. In Cuba, churches can't operate without state approval, and those that do face surveillance, warnings, restrictions, and actions like this. Pastor Muir Ávila was apparently warned to shut his ministry down in 2024. He didn't. This is probably his punishment.  

The regime has a history of going after the children of church leaders and young people in general, because, like in Venezuela, the young people who've never known freedom are sick of living the way they do and often have the loudest anti-communist voices.  

According to CiberCuba, "On April 2, the Municipal Prosecutor's Office of Morón ordered his pretrial detention and charged him with the crime of 'sabotage,' an offense in Cuba that can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Despite being a minor, the regime transferred him to the Canaleta prison in Ciego de Ávila, a maximum-security facility for adults, in violation of international standards for the protection of minors." 

Here's more:  

On April 24, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures in favor of Jonathan through Resolution 30/2026, considering that his life, integrity, and health were at risk of irreparable harm, and demanded that the Cuban state ensure him medical care, dignified conditions, and access to family members and lawyers.

The regime attempted to counter the allegations by disseminating images of the young man playing the piano in prison, but his father, the evangelical pastor Elier Muir Ávila, denounced that it was a manipulation and that the minor was deceived into having those photographs and videos taken without his consent.

The young man's mother, Minervina Burgos López, also publicly pleaded with the regime for his release, rejecting the images disseminated by the official media.

Several members of Congress have called for Jonathan's release. 

And earlier this week, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Riley Barnes did the same on behalf of the Donald Trump administration and the United States: 

Mounting pressure is coming from numerous human rights groups as well: 

In the meantime, in what may end up being a final act of desperation, the regime has just pushed through 176 "Chinese-style" emergency economic measures via the Communist Party’s Central Committee. 

"With an unusual tone of urgency, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel defended Chinese-style reforms he said must be implemented without delay, including allowing foreign investment in the country’s private sector and liberalizing the communist country’s centrally planned economy," writes Nora Gámez Torres of the Miami Herald. 

They include too-little-too-late measures like expanding private sector activities, allowing more direct foreign investment, and ending some government pricing controls. 

Raúl Castro himself reportedly approved the reforms, which look more like a way to buy time before the country completely implodes more than any sort of real transformation. 

Don't buy into it. It's time for this commie clown show to come to an end. People like young Jonathan can't wait much longer. 

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.

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