Cuba talks of releasing terror prisoners
Cuba has hinted that prisoner releases may go well beyond the 52
promised by leader Raúl Castro in July.
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
Cuba is offering to free a new group of nine prisoners -- including six
convicted of terrorism -- in a possible sign that it's willing to
release up to 80 more, a human rights activist said Monday.
The nine, all but one not generally considered to be political
prisoners, must go into exile if freed, said Elizardo Sánchez, head of
the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
About 80 other prisoners fall into the same category as the eight --
cases tried in courts that handle state security cases and did not
involve bloodshed -- and could also be freed, Sánchez added by phone
from Havana.
The offer marks the first confirmation that Cuban ruler Raúl Castro
plans to go beyond the 52 dissidents he promised to free in July, the
last still jailed from a group rounded up in 2003. Thirty-six already
have been freed and sent into exile in Spain.
``It seems he wants to erase this stain on his political image,''
Sánchez said. ``He wants to get rid of all these kinds of prisoners to
reduce the international criticism and . . . obtain political and
economic concessions.''
Three of the nine -- Leudis Arce Romero, Lazaro Avila Sierra and
Francisco Reyes Rodríguez -- received life sentences on terrorism
charges for plotting to hijack a plane to the United States in 2003
though the attempt was never carried out, Sánchez said.
Three others were convicted of terrorism and sentenced to eight to 10
years for hijacking a boat to leave the island, he added. They are
Reinier Concepción García, Juan Marimón Gómez and Marcos Zayas Acanda.
Pavel Hernández Manfarrol was sentenced to six years for trying to leave
illegally through the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo, Sánchez added, and
Domingo Osuna Mederos was convicted of piracy for plotting to hijack a boat.
The ninth, Orestes Paino Viera, is an opposition activist convicted in
2008 of disrespect for government authorities and resisting arrest,
according to the human rights activist.
Sánchez said he confirmed the Cuban offer in talks with six of the
prisoners and relatives of the other three. He could not confirm that
one or two additional prisoners received the same offer.
The offer to the nine again raised the question of just who is a
political prisoner in a country where the government considers many
actions as crimes against the security of the state.
Sanchez's commission lists as ``political prisoners'' nearly 100 Cubans
convicted in courts that consider crimes against the security of the
state, even if their crimes involved bloodshed. Amnesty International
counts as ``prisoners of conscience'' only those convicted on nonviolent
opposition to the government.
Ladies in White spokeswoman Berta Soler said that the women's group will
soon hand Catholic Church officials its own list of who it considers to
be jailed for political reasons.
Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega told journalists that the government will
free ``others'' beyond the 52 but said there were several lists of
``political prisoners.''
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos last week asked members
of Spain's legislature to provide him with lists of Cubans they consider
to be political prisoners.
Ortega and Moratinos were at the July 7 meeting with Castro in which the
Cuban ruler promised to release the 52 dissidents within the next four
months.
Moratinos has said that Castro was willing to release ``all'' the
political prisoners, while the president of Cuba's legislative National
Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón, said the country would free those who did not
bear responsibility for the loss of lives.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/05/1857736/cuba-talks-of-releasing-terror.html
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