CUBA
Church: Castro to free prisoners
A dialogue between the Cuban government and the Roman Catholic church
has borne fruit: 52 political prisoners are to be freed.
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
Cuba will free 52 political prisoners and allow them to leave the
island, Roman Catholic church officials announced Wednesday in a
surprising concession that would be the largest release of jailed
dissidents in more than a decade.
The announcement came after the latest round of unprecedented talks
between Cuban ruler Raúl Castro and Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega on the
island's estimated 167 political prisoners and broader human rights issues.
Ortega was told five prisoners would be freed Wednesday, and have
permission to leave soon for Spain, and another 47 would be released
over the next three to four months, Havana archbishopric spokesman
Orlando Márquez wrote in a statement.
The 52 were the last of the 75 dissidents arrested in Cuba's ``Black
Spring'' crackdown in 2003 still in prison, Márquez wrote. The 75 were
sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years after one- and two-day
trials on charges of conspiring with Washington. Two dozen were
previously released for health reasons.
Cuba has been under withering criticisms for human rights abuses since
the Feb. 23 death of political prisoner Orlando Zapata after a lengthy
hunger strike and harassments of the Ladies in White -- female relatives
of the 75 -- by pro-government mobs.
The announced releases drew cautiously optimistic comments from the
Ladies in White as well as the Obama administration and the European
Union, which have been urging Cuba to clean up its human rights record
if it wants to clear the way for improved diplomatic relations.
``We would view prisoner releases as a positive development, but we are
seeking further details to confirm'' the church's announcement, said
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Virginia Staab.
``I am very moved and surprised, but I remain pretty skeptical,'' said
Laura Pollán, a Ladies in White spokeswoman whose husband is serving a
20-year sentence. ``I hope that by September all the prisoners will have
been freed, and I can say I was wrong.''
Pollán added she hoped the Cuban government will not force the freed
prisoners to leave the country. The church statement said they ``will be
able'' to leave the country, but gave no further details.
The Washington-based Cuba Study Group, which favors easing U.S.
sanctions on Havana, called on U.S. officials to ``respond to the
positive development in Cuba with substantive measures,'' but urged the
church to negotiate the freedom of the remaining political prisoners.
Havana human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez said he was also
``pleasantly surprised'' by the large scope of the promised releases but
added that Havana should free all political prisoners, respect all human
rights and stop repressing its peaceful political opponents.
``Under current laws that make the exercise of civil rights a crime, in
a couple of months the prisons could be full again,'' Sánchez said by
telephone from Havana.
Dissident Guillermo Fariñas, hospitalized since March amid a hunger
strike to demand the release of 26 political prisoners reported to be in
ill health, said he would only resume accepting food and water after at
least 12 of the political prisoners have been released.
``I am skeptical. Until our brothers are on the street, we don't' trust
the authorities,'' he declared, according to an AFP report from Havana.
He stopped taking food and liquids one day after Zapata died, but has
been receiving nourishment intravenously at the hospital.
Cuban American National Foundation President Francisco Hernandez
welcomed the announcement but added, ``We must remind the world that . .
. the Castro regime continues to commit a multitude of daily crimes
against the Cuban people.''
The church statement said Ortega met Wednesday with Castro, visiting
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Cuban Foreign
Minister Bruno Rodríguez. Ortega also met with Moratinos and Rodriguez
just before the session with Castro, it added, without detailing who
announced the prisoner releases.
Castro and Ortega have been negotiating the release of some political
prisoners, and improved jail conditions for others, since May in the
Havana government's first-ever negotiations with an independent Cuban
organization.
Up until Wednesday, the talks had led to the release of one political
prisoner in a wheelchair, Ariel Sigler, and the transfer of another
dozen to prisons closer to their homes.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/07/1720412/church-castro-to-free-prisoners.html
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