Prisoners Defenders published its July census on 12 August, recording 1,327 political prisoners held in Cuba at 31 July, up 21 net on the 1,306 this dispatch reported for June and 46 above the record 1,281 logged in May1. The register now includes a 13-year-old.
The net movement understates what happened during the month. July brought 36 additions against roughly 15 removals, so the number of people newly taken rose while the headline total climbed more slowly than in June. A count that slows because more prisoners left the register is not the same as a count that slows because fewer arrests were made, and this month is the second kind.
The removals matter more here than the additions. Prisoners Defenders records forced exile being set as a condition of release2, which converts a release into a departure and takes the person off the register without any court revisiting the case. Both of the monitors this dispatch relies on work from exile, because independent monitoring cannot operate legally on the island, and both assemble their series from on-island contacts Lowdown cannot check case by case. Havana denies holding political prisoners at all.
