Cuba frees political prisoners ahead of talks on EU sanctions
By David Usborne in New York
Published: 26 April 2007
Cuba appears to have taken a step towards blunting international
criticism of repression on the island with the release of seven
political prisoners, including the well-known dissident leader Jorge
Luis Garcia Perez. He had serv-ed 17 years in jail and wrote a book from
his cell about his imprisonment. Cuban opposition and human rights
groups confirmed that Mr Perez, more widely known as Antunez, was freed
on Sunday.
On Tuesday, the authorities released another six men, whose arrests in
2005 led to the adoption of sanctions by the European Union, which have
since been lifted temporarily.
The releases come ahead of a high-level meeting between Cuba and Spain
at which Havana will seek the permanent end of EU sanctions. The six
freed men are Lazaro Alonso Roman, Manuel Perez Soria, Elio Enrique
Chavez Ramon, Jose Diaz Silva, Emilio Leyva Perez and Dulian Ramirez
Ballester.
While buoyed by the releases, opposition groups in Havana warned against
over-interpreting their significance, noting that most had served their
full terms.
They contrasted the releases with the recent sentencing of two other men
at closed trials, one for a term of 12 years for writing anti-government
graffiti on public buildings, distributing critical literature and
exposing state secrets.
None of those freed this week were among the 75 journalists and critics
arrested in a crackdown in March 2003 that sparked worldwide
condemnation of Havana. Of those, 16 have been freed but only for
medical reasons.
"We don't see anything special in this," said Elizardo Sanchez of the
Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, a group in
Havana barely tolerated by the regime. Of Mr Perez, he added: "We are
happy for his release, but he is coming into the streets of a country
under a government that doesn't respect any civil, political and
economic rights."
Fathoming the true intentions of the Cuban government remains difficult
with Raul Castro in control. He took over last July after his brother
Fidel, founder of the revolution, had what appears to have been botched
intestinal surgery.
Months later the true condition of Fidel remains obscured in mystery.
Pictures were released of a more robust looking Fidel in a tracksuit
during a meeting with Chinese government officials last Friday. It has
since emerged that the meeting took place inside a Havana hospital.
Observers in Washington believe that it is unlikely that he will return
to power given the length of his illness. "An 80-year-old man who ...
still wears a tracksuit when he meets with foreign dignitaries suggests
this is an extremely serious illness still," one official said.
According to human rights and opposition groups there are nearly 300
dissidents imprisoned in Cuba for political reasons. The regime
continues to assert that there are no political prisoners behind bars
except for those it considers counter-revolutionary mercenaries in the
pay of the United States.
Human rights groups are meanwhile continuing to highlight the cases of
two men recently sentenced.
One, Rolando Jimenez, is reported to have been given a 12-year prison
term last weekend at a closed trial, from which his family was barred.
He did not have a defence lawyer and has already spent four years in prison.
Earlier this month, an independent journalist, Oscar Sanchez, was
reportedly sentenced to four years in prison after being charged with
alleged, "social dangerousness".
Mr Sanchez had been writing about dissidents in Cuba and was apparently
arrested on 13 April and tried the same day.
CASTRO'S PRISONERS
* JORGE LUIS GARCIA PEREZ, 42
One of Cuba's best known political prisoners, he served 17 years and 34
days in prison after being convicted of "verbal enemy propaganda",
"attempted sabotage", including setting fire to sugar cane fields, and
failing to respect the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. Perez, more widely
known as Antunez, was among prisoners that Pope John II petitioned the
regime to release before a 1998 visit to Cuba.
Status: freed
* MANUEL PEREZ SORIA, 55
On his release, he said he had been arrested and imprisoned for
so-called "public disorder" during an anti-government protest rally in
Havana in July 2005. Defiant still, he insisted: "I am an opponent of
this government and my life is fully dedicated to this, because I am on
the right side. This country is screaming for economic, political and
social changes."
Status: freed
* ROLANDO JIMENEZ, 36
The dissident lawyer was jailed without charge four years ago. In 2004
Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience. Accused of
writing anti-government slogans, including "Down With Castro", on public
buildings and revealing state secrets, he was sentenced to 12 years at a
closed trial last weekend where he was barred from defending himself.
Status: in prison
* OSCAR SANCHEZ MADAN, 44
An independent journalist who wrote for a Miami-based website, CubaNet,
was arrested at his home on 13 April and convicted the same day at a
closed trial on the vague charge of "social dangerousness". He had been
writing articles on the hardships faced by the people of Cuba and about
the work of dissidents. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Status: in prison
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2486643.ece
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