US sanctions four Cuban judicial officials for jailing political dissident

WASHINGTON/HAVANA – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on May 21 that the US would sanction four Cuban judicial officials for their role in the detention of a political dissident in 2020.

Three judges and a prosecutor, Mr Rubio said, would be prohibited from entering the US for what the US called a “gross violation of human rights” in the case of Cuban dissident Luis Robles.

Mr Robles was arrested while protesting in the capital Havana in December of 2020, and holding a sign that read “Liberty” and “No more Repression”.

He was charged with “disobedience” and “enemy propaganda”, according to his family and rights groups.

Mr Rubio called Mr Robles’ detention “arbitrary” in a statement issued on May 21.

Cuban judges Gladys Maria Padron Canals, Maria Elena Fornari Conde, and Juan Sosa Orama, as well as prosecutor Yanaisa Matos Legra, oversaw the case and would be sanctioned, Mr Rubio said.

“Judges and prosecutors who are agents of the regime, not of an independent judiciary, play a critical role in these arbitrary detentions and prosecutions,” Mr Rubio said.

“They are responsible for the sham legal processes that unjustly target, convict, and sentence individuals for peaceful expressions and activism.”

Mr Robles was released from jail in January, among the first of more than 500 prisoners Cuba liberated in 2025 following a Biden administration deal brokered by the Vatican.

Although Cuba’s 2019 constitution grants citizens the right to protest, a law more specifically defining that right has for years been stalled in the legislature, leaving those who protest in legal limbo.

Cuba’s government, which did not immediately respond to Mr Rubio’s announcement, maintains that the US stokes protests, or finances them, in a bid to foment unrest on the island. REUTERS