Amid heightened tensions with the United States, the Cuban government announced Thursday evening it will release more than 2,010 prisoners as a humanitarian gesture amid Holy Week celebrations.

It is unclear if among those pardoned are some of the 1,200 political prisoners human-rights groups estimate are held currently on the island. The Cuban government does not recognize them as such.

The statement, published Thursday evening on the Communist Party’s newspaper Granma, says “this humanitarian and sovereign gesture stemmed from a careful analysis of the nature of the acts committed by those sanctioned, their good conduct while in prison, the fact that they had served a significant portion of their sentences, and their state of health.”

The government said that among those released are “young people, women, adults over the age of 60, and those reaching the end of their term of early release during the current six-month period and the coming year, as well as foreign nationals and Cuban citizens residing abroad.”

The government said it did not release hardened criminals — including people sentenced for sexual assault, pedophilia, murder, or drug offenses — and “certain individuals who had previously received a pardon but subsequently committed new crimes.” The statement said that people who committed crimes against public authorities — a charge often used to imprison protesters — were also excluded.

Earlier this month, the government said it would release 51 prisoners as a gesture of “good will” towards the Vatican. Of those, about 25 have been released, some of them political prisoners, including people who joined demonstrations against the government in July 2021.

While the statement Thursday said this is “a habitual practice in our criminal justice system and in the humanitarian trajectory of the Revolution,” the gesture comes when talks with the Trump administration appear stalled and the U.S. president has repeatedly floated the idea of “taking” Cuba.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week bluntly said Cuba needs to change its economic system and its form of government. Earlier he said the communist country needed new leadership.

“The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent communist,” he said.

But so far Cuban leadership appears united around the country’s handpicked president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and a new economic plan released by the government this week did not include major reforms.

Díaz-Canel has said he was willing to “act to the last consequences” out of loyalty to the Cuban revolution, vowing to resist U.S. military action. Privately, Cuban officials have been reaching out to Cuban Americans seeking advice on what to do to ease tensions.

The statement Thursday said the government has granted early release to over 11,000 prisoners since 2011. Some of the largest groups – 2900 in 2012, and 3,500 in 2015– were linked to visits by Pope Benedict and Pope Francis. The Catholic Church has also mediated in the release of members of the opposition, including some in a group of 75 dissidents who were arrested in 2003.

Pope Francis also mediated a deal between the Cuban government and the Biden administration to release 553 prisoners, including prominent dissidents who were later arrested again. The government did not speak at the time of a “pardon” but simply of an early release benefit.

Human-rights organizations and several governments have called on the Cuban leadership to release all political prisoners, including several mothers, anti-government protesters who were teenagers at the time of their arrest, seniors and people with health problems.

Several prominent dissidents, like Felix and Saily Navarro, artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and rapper Maykel Castillo remain in prison despite the international outcry. Otero Alcantara began a hunger strike this week after threats by prison guards, activists said.

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