Cuba says it arrested 10 Panamanians for writing anti-government graffiti
%207.51.08%20a.m..png "Cuban authorities displayed a cache of weapons that they said were seized from a group of men who entered Cuba’s territorial waters on Feb. 25, 2026, on a terrorist mission.")
Cuba has arrested 10 Panamanian citizens accused of making graffiti signs in Havana with what authorities called “subversive content,” the island’s Interior Ministry said Monday.
According to the Interior Ministry, the 10 individuals, all residents of Panama, were detained in Havana on Feb. 28 for committing “acts of propaganda against Cuba’s constitutional order,” a crime under the Cuban Penal Code.
The ministry said preliminary investigations revealed the group had been “directed” to enter Cuba specifically to post signs in the capital before dawn, then leave the country. Each person was promised between $1,000 and $1,500 upon returning to Panama, the ministry added.
“From the moment of their arrest, those involved have admitted to being the perpetrators of these acts, carried out in the capital during the early hours of Saturday,” the statement says.
Article 124 of the Cuban Penal Code allows authorities to arrest people who “Incite against the social order, international solidarity, or the socialist state recognized in the Republic’s Constitution through oral or written propaganda or any other form” and those who “create, distribute, or possess propaganda of the aforementioned nature.”
The crime carries sentences ranging from 3 to 10 years in prison.
The arrest of the Panamanians fits a narrative the Cuban government has relied on for decades — framing dissent and protest as the product of foreign financing and direction, rather than homegrown grievance. Human-rights organizations have long challenged that narrative, noting that Cuba criminalizes the kind of political expression protected in most democracies.
Boat shootout raises questions
On Thursday, Cuba said 10 men on a Florida-registered boat who were attempting a “terrorist infiltration” provoked a deadly shootout with a Cuban coast guard vessel. Four people died and another six were injured. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will conduct its own investigation, but U.S. officials have not provided more details. It is unclear if U.S. diplomats on the island have had access to the detainees, some of whom are believed to be U.S. citizens. Cuba usually does not recognize foreign citizenship of Cubans with dual nationalities.
Over the weekend, some Cubans on social media have raised questions about the shootout and Cuba’s narrative of the events, and have shared doubts that the Florida-registered Proline boat shown on pictures could have successfully carried 10 men plus the heavy cargo of weapons, ammunition and other supplies shown on Cuban television on Friday evening. A Cuban official on Friday mentioned the men originally were split into two boats, but one aborted the trip because of a mechanical breakdown. Cuban authorities also mistakenly identified a man, Roberto Azcorra, as one of the people injured in the incident, but Azcorra was in Florida.
The area where the men were planning to disembark, Corralillo, in the central province of Villa Clara, has a military unit and a border guard unit, according to Google Maps data, raising questions about how much planning went into the alleged infiltration.
The boat shootout and the arrests of the 10 Panamanians comes at one of the most volatile moments in U.S.-Cuba relations in recent years, defined by an economic collapse of historic proportions on the island and secret back-channel talks between the two countries.
President Donald Trump himself acknowledged the contacts, saying the Cuban government is “talking with us” and floating what he called a possible “friendly takeover of Cuba.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2026 at 4:39 PM.