Published: 12:37PM Saturday September 18, 2010
Source: Reuters
Cuba is preparing to free four more political prisoners and send them to
Spain, bringing to 36 the total released so far in a deal between the
government and the Roman Catholic Church, the church said.
Cuban President Raul Castro agreed in July to free 52 jailed opponents
in a process the church said could take several months.
Cuba, which views the prisoners as mercenaries for the United States,
wants them to go to Spain, which has agreed to accept them.
A statement from the office of Cuban Catholic leader Cardinal Jaime
Ortega said the latest group "has accepted the proposal" to leave for
Spain and would be sent there "shortly."
The prisoners are being allowed to take family members along.
The releases have eased pressure on Cuba after international
condemnation of the death in February of hunger-striking political
prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo.
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There was also outrage at the harassment of the dissident group Ladies
in White during marches last spring demanding the release of jailed
family members.
Their loved ones, who include all those to be freed, were part of a
group of 75 dissidents jailed in a March 2003 government crackdown known
as the Black Spring.
Government opponents have complained that the prisoners are being forced
to go to Spain, but the church has said that was only a proposal.
Caridad Espino whose son, Nelson Molinet, is one of the four to be
released shortly, said she was glad he was getting out.
"I'm happy because my son is leaving and he's not going to suffer
anymore the harshness of prison," she said.
Molinet, the leader of an independent union, has been serving a 20-year
sentence.
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/cuba-release-more-political-prisoners-3784796?ref=rss
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