Cuba says it released over 2,000 prisoners as Trump administration heaps pressure on island

The Cuban government said late Thursday it has pardoned and released 2,010 prisoners, a sweeping move that comes as the island nation grapples with intense pressure from the Trump administration, including an oil blockade that — until recently — cut off fuel shipments.

Calling it a “humanitarian and sovereign gesture,” Cuba’s Embassy in the U.S. announced the prisoner releases on X. It said those released include younger people, women, people over the age of 60, Cuban citizens who live abroad and foreign nationals. Prisoners who are guilty of various violent crimes were not eligible, according to the embassy.

It’s unclear whether any political prisoners were included in the release. The nonprofit Prisoners Defenders has counted 1,211 political prisoners in Cuba.

The Cuban government said the mass pardons are this year’s second prisoner release. Last month, a smaller group of 51 detainees were released.

The prisoner releases come as Cuba experiences at least a partial reprieve from the energy crisis that has crippled the island. Earlier this year, the Trump administration threatened to slap hefty tariffs on any countries that export oil to Cuba, causing fuel shortages as shipments ground to a halt for several months.

But earlier this week, the U.S. allowed a sanctioned Russian-flagged oil tanker to dock in Havana with more than 700,000 barrels of oil. Russia has said it plans to send a second tanker, offering a lifeline to Cuba.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters this week the Trump administration decided to let the first tanker through “for humanitarian reasons.”

President Trump said last weekend: “We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need…they have to survive.”

But Leavitt has said the U.S.’s policy toward Cuba hasn’t changed, and future decisions on whether to allow tankers to access the island will be made on a “case-by-case basis.”

Mr. Trump has heaped pressure on the Cuban government in recent months, as administration officials suggest they want to see major changes to the country’s governance. The U.S. president floated the idea of “taking Cuba in some form” last month.

“Whether I free it, take it, I think I could do anything I want with it,” he told reporters.

The Trump administration has taken a more aggressive posture on foreign policy in recent months. The U.S. military launched a daring operation in January to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, an ally of Cuba’s, and for nearly five weeks, the U.S. has been engulfed in an aerial war against Iran.

On Sunday, Mr. Trump said “Cuba’s going to be next,” calling it a “failing country.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suggested that Cuba — whose communist system has endured, with some changes, since Fidel Castro’s 1959 rise — needs new leadership.

“I think Cuba is in need of two things: economic reforms and political reform. You cannot fix their economy if you don’t change their system of government,” Rubio told Fox News’ Sean Hannity late Tuesday, calling its leaders “incompetent.” 

“They’re in a lot of trouble,” Rubio said. “There’s no doubt about it. And you know, we’ll have more news on that fairly soon. We’re working on that as well.”

The Trump administration has engaged in negotiations with Cuba, both sides have acknowledged, with Cuba’s former president, Raúl Castro, playing a role.

But Cuba has pushed back against some of Mr. Trump’s suggestions that he’d like to take control of the country. President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez warned last month that “any external aggressor will clash with an impregnable resistance.”