Ten Panamanian citizens detained in Havana have become the subject of a diplomatic dispute between Panama and Cuba. Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha visited Cuba as part of his trip to meet with the detainees. According to diplomatic sources, Cuba has promised to study the case with seriousness. Panama's ideal solution would be the expulsion and deportation of its citizens. Currently, the Panamanians are being held at Villa Marista prison, where they say they are repentant. So far, no one can clearly explain what they were actually doing in Cuba or when they will return home. The case remains a mystery. According to official statements, the detainees are receiving medical care, food, and all their procedural and human rights are respected. The detainees themselves confessed to Cuban authorities that they were hired to deliver aid and to put up some posters, but they did not seem to give the act much importance. Official sources describe them as people who did not have a clear vision of the political situation in Cuba or the role they could play. Villa Marista prison, located in Havana, has historically been used by Cuba's state security service to house political prisoners. The context in which the Panamanians operated is extremely delicate: Cuba is going through one of its most acute crises in decades, and any activity that can be interpreted as dissent or foreign interference is met with harsh repression. On March 2, Cuba's Ministry of the Interior reported the arrest of the 10 Panamanians for allegedly painting graffiti against the government and the island's political system. They are accused of subversive acts contrary to the constitutional order, and it is stated that each of them was to receive between $1,000 and $1,500 upon returning to Panama. They could face sentences of four to eight years in prison. However, the portrait painted by diplomatic sources is not that of a group of political activists with a defined agenda, but rather of individuals who had no political intentions. During his visit, the Panamanian foreign minister met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, likely a signal that both countries want to handle this matter through dialogue without public confrontations.
