Cuba frees another prominent political prisoner
By PAUL HAVEN
Associated Press
HAVANA -- Cuba has agreed to free another prominent political prisoner
and send eight other inmates into exile in Spain, the Roman Catholic
Church announced Saturday.
The release of Diosdado Gonzalez means just five of 75 peaceful
activists, social commentators and opposition figures jailed in a 2003
crackdown remain behind bars.
Cuba has told Catholic leaders it plans to free them all, and it is also
ridding its jails of many other prisoners whose crimes - some of them
violent - had some political motivation.
Church spokesman Orlando Marquez announced the releases in a statement
Saturday.
Gonzalez, a 48-year-old electrician and farmer, is the husband of
Alejandrina Garcia, a leader of the Ladies in White opposition group,
who briefly launched a hunger strike last month to demand his release.
Reached by the Associated Press at her home in a small village in
central Matanzas province, Garcia said she has been walking on air since
receiving word she would soon have her husband home again.
"Can you imagine!" she said. "I am as nervous as a young girl waiting
for her boyfriend to arrive."
Cuban President Raul Castro agreed in July to free all 52 prisoners
remaining from the 2003 sweep following a meeting with Catholic Cardinal
Jaime Ortega. At the time, the clergyman said the deal called for the
men to be out within four months, or by November.
Authorities quickly released 41 prisoners, sending all but one into
exile in Spain along with their families. But the process stalled as
those who remained behind bars refused to leave, and many vowed to
continue to press for democratic political change once free.
But pressure has been building on the government to make good on the
agreement, and in recent months it has begun to release the rest of the
men and let them stay in the country. Gonzalez has indicated he has no
intention of leaving the island, a stance reiterated Saturday by his wife.
Garcia said she had spoken to her husband in prison and "he affirmed
that he wants to stay in Cuba to continue his fight."
"I respect all of his decisions because they are just, he has his
motives and he thinks he must be here to keep up the peaceful struggle,"
she said.
The Cuban government had no immediate comment on the releases.
Authorities rarely acknowledge the dissidents, except to say they are
all common criminals and stooges paid by Washington to destabilize the
island.
In addition to Gonzalez, the church announced the release of eight
prisoners jailed for a variety of offenses, including hijacking and
trying to leave the country illegally. All will be allowed to go to
Spain along with their families.
Associated Press writer Anne-Marie Garcia contributed to this report.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/26/2086931/cuba-frees-another-prominent-political.html
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