Is it fair for prisoners to perform forced labour?
The First Comprehensive Report on Forced Labour in Prisons in Cuba is the result of the Prisoners Defenders association's denunciation of the forced labour of more than 60,000 prisoners promoted by the Cuban regime.
‘This report exposes the alarming situation of forced labour in Cuban prisons, revealing and demonstrating, without a shadow of a doubt, the painful and criminal situation of forced labour carried out by the state for economic and punitive purposes,’ the report reads.
The association highlighted that there have already been international calls for attention, such as the statement by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
Through its investigation, Prisoners Defenders calls for action and demands that Cuban leaders suffer the consequences of their actions, since, even though they are behind bars, prisoners also have human rights.
The document compiles 53 testimonies, quantitative and qualitative evidence, as well as legal arguments against slavery practices within the Latin American country.
Furthermore, it offers an extensive section that examines the judicial, criminal and labour standards that are being violated, whether international or national: ‘The Cuban prison system not only violates the Mandela Rules, the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), the ILO (International Labour Organisation) Conventions and all international labour standards, but also constitutes a machinery of repression and extraction of economic value through coercion, suffering and abuse.’
According to the findings of the investigation, there are at least 60,000 prisoners (both common and political) living in a situation of slavery promoted by the regime and the economic model it has decided to implement.
The reason for this high figure is that, as they explained, there are 242 forced labour prisons in Cuba. In other words, there is an institutional structure that includes main prisons and what are known as ‘camps’, “farms” or ‘correctional facilities’. These are names given to satellite prisons which, by not being called ‘prisons’, escape legal consequences.
‘The impunity with which the work is structured is such that generals and senior army officers use common and political prisoners to build their own private mansions.’
The rights violations compiled by Prisoners Defenders from the testimonies include: imposition of forced labour without consent, absence of an employment contract, work as a mandatory criminal punishment, physical violence while working, obligation to work despite adverse conditions, absence of occupational safety measures, assignment of tasks without prior training or instruction, exposure to extreme weather conditions, abusive working hours, non-payment or symbolic wages, arbitrary wage deductions for basic supplies, lack of transfer or registration of payments, reprisals for refusing to work, and fabrication of disciplinary offences.
Those interviewed claimed that they were coerced into performing forced labour, and most work in unhealthy and extreme conditions, to the point that they were not treated when they needed medical attention. Because of this, and the lack of training or tools, or illnesses they already had, they suffer physical and psychological consequences.
‘14 of the 53 stated that they did not have a single short break during the day, and the rest (39) reported breaks of between 20 and 30 minutes per day.’
Many do not even have an employment contract, nor do they have a real salary: "35 were supposedly assigned a salary, but 18 were not assigned any salary at all (33.96% of the 53), 25 had their wages withheld on the pretext that this would be used to pay for work tools, work clothes, food and/or water (71.43% of the 35 who were supposedly assigned a wage), and for 9 of the respondents, the amount was only symbolic."
Prisoners Defenders also noted differences in the treatment of prisoners depending on their gender, whether they are political prisoners, and their race.
The women interviewed were subjected to work that was not in accordance with their physical condition, and were even forced to clean excrement without gloves. One even suffered enslavement while pregnant ‘in an advanced state of pregnancy’. Three of them claimed to be victims of sexual harassment.
Political prisoners are assigned to less harsh tasks, ‘to prevent political prisoners—who are more active and less ideologically docile than common prisoners—from denouncing this barbarity.’
On the other hand, people of Afro-Cuban descent suffer discrimination. Furthermore, they are the ones who suffer most from the abuse of the slave model that exists in the prison system. According to a 2024 report by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), there are a large number of Afro-Cubans in Cuban prisons.
What forced labour do prisoners perform?
Prisoners Defenders made a list of the jobs that prisoners are forced to do:
- Production of marabou charcoal
- Cutting sugar cane (harvest)
- Agricultural production
- Others (construction, factories, Havana cigars, raw materials, etc.)
- Garbage collection
- Street cleaning
- Work in social welfare institutions
- Other additional tasks (insufficient documentation)
The report highlighted charcoal production in particular, because it involves the largest number of prisoners and is the most brutal form of labour, as well as Cuban tobacco production due to the involvement of the Tabacuba company.
‘In 2023, Cuba exported $61.8 million worth of charcoal produced by slave labour (tens of thousands of common prisoners and some political prisoners), making it the ninth largest exporter of charcoal in the world (out of a total of 159).’
The main countries to which the charcoal has been exported are Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and Turkey. The investigation detailed that, in the case of Spain, $23 million worth of charcoal was exported, of which ‘may include tonnes of Cuban marabou charcoal’.
It exposed Spanish companies such as Carbones Loira, BarbecueWorld and PRALIPORT as marketers of this product made from forced labour.
However, Prisoners Defenders has two ideas about the involvement of importers: ‘All or many of the importers either ignore the fact that this state-produced marabou charcoal is made using forced labour, or are well aware of this fact as a means of obtaining unbeatable prices and margins’.
In the case of tobacco, according to the report, production is managed by the Tabacuba company using a model that combines civilians and prisoners.
For example, in Quivicán Prison, two civilians who are experts in tobacco production go and teach the prisoners the basics and take care of the factory's accounting.
‘The two civilian workers, who have not been criminally sanctioned, have jobs in line with the miserable working conditions endured by Cubans. (...) with a half-hour break between shifts, along with a small snack and food provided by the prison. They receive a salary of around 40,000 Cuban pesos per month.’
But the prisoners, who were deceived with the promise of a fair employment contract, have much longer working hours and very low wages that often do not reach their families.
And yes, according to the report, the largest importer of Cuban cigars is the European Union. ‘Upon arrival in Europe, the European consumer pays an average of €17.9 per cigar, or $21.00 per cigar. In other words, with regard to the retail price, the gross margin of European marketers is 85.47%, that of the Cuban government is 14.53%, and that of the prisoner is 0.015%.’
What is the current situation in Cuba?
To understand the origin of an economic model based on the enslavement of people who either work or suffer worse punishments behind bars, it is necessary to understand the context of the situation in Cuba.
According to Human Rights Watch's 2025 world report, the island is under pressure from a serious economic situation ‘that affects its rights, including access to health and food’.
Repression by their own government reaches levels of torture and imprisonment for rising up against it. The situation is so bad that the people face such a poor standard of living that many are forced to leave their country.
And if its citizens cannot exercise their rights, prisoners have no way of reporting abuses in prisons. What is more, the authorities prohibit the entry of human rights organisations.
They explained that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights are very concerned about the island's enormous lack of food and energy security.
The 2025 Report on the State of Social Rights in Cuba by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) stated that 89% of families live in extreme poverty.
In terms of employment figures, the report detailed that 12% of the adult population is unemployed. The state, for its part, employs 48% of those who do have a job. This job insecurity affects the country's economy, causing more than half of Cuban families to struggle to obtain the bare minimum they need.
The report, Financial Storm over Havana, by Emilio Morales, president and CEO of Havana Consulting Group, adds that Cuba has an external debt of more than $40 billion. This further aggravates the situation.
‘The only way out of this national catastrophe is the total replacement of the political and economic system that has been suffocating Cuba for decades,’ Morales concluded.