Dissidents say Cuba prepares to free more prisoners

Dissidents say Cuba prepares to free more prisoners
October 2, 2010|12:23 p.m.

Havana (reuters) -- Cuba is preparing to free more political prisoners
on top of the 52 it is in the process of releasing, dissidents said
Saturday.

They said they were helping the Roman Catholic Church, Spain and the
European Union prepare lists of prisoners who should be released, but
that in some cases the government is already taking the first steps
toward freeing them.

"The government is now contacting other prisoners apart from the 52 and
they are filling out forms and telling them that if they want to, they
can go abroad with eight family members," said a dissident who asked not
to be named.

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In a deal with the church, Cuba pledged in July to release 52 political
prisoners to end international criticism that followed the February
death of imprisoned hunger striker Orlando Zapata Tamayo. So far, 36
have been freed and sent to Spain in a process expected to last another
month.

Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega said Friday the church was mediating talks
to release prisoners above the original 52, but was gathering input from
different sources to compile a list for the government of who it
believes should be freed.

Cuban authorities, he said, would then decide who they will let go.

There is disagreement on how many more political prisoners are in Cuban
jails. The government is said not to want to release any who committed
acts of violence.

Laura Pollan, leader of the dissident "Ladies in White," told Reuters
her group believes there are 40 to 50 more prisoners who should be freed
outright.

The ladies are the wives and mothers of the 52 already set for release,
all of whom have been jailed since a government crackdown in 2003.

Pollan said she will give her list of names to the church, the Spanish
government and European Union as soon as Tuesday.

Elizardo Sanchez, spokesman for the independent Cuban Commission of
Human Rights, said he had given the Spanish government a list of 69 more
prisoners who should be released immediately.

But the international group Amnesty International has said there will be
just one political prisoner left after the original 52 are out of jail.

The wildly disparate numbers, Pollan said, arise from poor documentation
of the cases and the suspicion that some prisoners are in jail for
political reasons, but were convicted of charges unrelated to politics.

President Raul Castro has been applauded for releasing prisoners, but
dissidents complain that they are being forced to go to Spain, which has
agreed to accept them.

So far, only those willing to go live in exile have gotten out. Ortega
said Friday seven or eight of the 52 prisoners are refusing to leave
Cuba, but that all would be freed.

Cuban leaders want them off the island because they view political
prisoners as mercenaries working to undermine the government at the
behest of the United States.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-cuba-prisoners,0,6617411.story