AP
By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Paul Haven, Associated Press – Mon Nov
8, 12:06 am ET
HAVANA – The wives and mothers of Cuba's most prominent political
prisoners marched through the leafy streets of the capital Sunday, but
their demands that the government honor an agreement to release their
loved ones by the end of the day went unheeded.
The deadline passed at midnight without any word on the men's fate,
setting up a standoff between President Raul Castro and the island's
small but vocal opposition community. One dissident vowed to start a
hunger strike later Monday if the 13 prisoners are not in their homes,
and a human rights leader warned the government was playing with fire.
"To not release them would be fatal to the promise given to the Church,
and a fraud against the international community," Elizardo Sanchez, head
of the Havana-based Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National
Reconciliation, said hours ahead of the deadline.
Castro agreed following a meeting with Roman Catholic Cardinal Jamie
Ortega to release 52 prisoners of conscience held since a 2003 crackdown
on peaceful dissent. The July 7 deal called for all the prisoners to be
free in three to four months, a period that ended at midnight Sunday.
A prominent church official expressed surprise at the lack of progress.
"It is not what we thought would happen," Father Jose Felix Perez, who
coordinates Cuba's Catholic Bishops Conference, said Sunday as it became
increasingly clear no releases were imminent. Felix Perez made the
comments after celebrating Mass for the Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in
White, the dissident group made up of family members of the 2003 prisoners.
Cuban officials have declined to comment on the deadline.
At first, the government moved swiftly to make good on the deal, sending
39 prisoners into exile in Spain, along with their families. Authorities
even agreed to release another 14 prisoners who were in jail for violent
— but politically motivated — crimes. They too were sent to Spain,
though the agreement struck with the Church made no mention of exile
being a condition for release.
But progress has ground to a halt recently.
The remaining 13 prisoners of conscience have refused to leave the
island, a direct challenge to the government. Some say they will
continue their fight for democratic political change the moment they
leave jail.
As the deadline passed, a confrontation appeared to be looming.
"We won't stop fighting, whether they release them or not," said Laura
Pollan, a Damas leader, following a quiet protest by 30 women Sunday on
Havana's grand Fifth Avenue thoroughfare. Her husband, Hector Maseda,
67, is serving a 20-year term for treason and other crimes.
Pollan said if the government fails to release the men, "it will show
that their word has no value, and that they cannot be believed."
Pollan said the group would step up its protests, though she gave no
details.
Guillermo Farinas, a dissident who won Europe's Sakharov human rights
prize in October after staging a 134-day hunger strike in support of the
prisoners, has told The Associated Press he will stop eating Monday if
the remaining dissidents are not in their homes.
That would likely spark deep criticism of Cuba in European capitals, and
could set back efforts to improve ties with the continent that have been
frayed since the 2003 arrests. The United States has been at odds with
Cuba for more than half a century, and has demanded the release of all
political prisoners — as well as political and social change — before it
considers better ties.
The delay could even set back the Obama Administration's long-rumored
plans to loosen travel restrictions and make it easier for students,
academics and researchers to visit the island. American tourists are
effectively barred from traveling to Cuba.
Havana says U.S. criticism of its behavior is hypocritical, since
Washington does not have a perfect human rights record either. Cuban
officials note that the American government is friendly with many
regimes accused of torture and other grave abuses, and counts dictators
and strongmen among its friends.
Cuba considers all the dissidents to be common criminals and says they
receive money from Washington for the express purpose of bringing down
the island's socialist system.
Officials say Farinas' legal problems include violent behavior toward a
co-worker and note that he has lived through some two dozen hunger
strikes only because of the medical attention given to him by government
doctors.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101108/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_dissident_deadline_3
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