Historic gesture as first batch of political prisoners freed by Cuba

Published on Tuesday 13 July 2010 16:03

EVEN former political prisoners from Cuba smiled and gave victory signs yesterday after they and their families were flown to freedom in Madrid, the first of 52 dissidents the Cuban government has promised to free in a historic policy shift.

In an action once deemed unthinkable, Cuba agreed last week to liberate all those still imprisoned from a 2003 crackdown during which 75 activists were jailed.

Spain, which along with the Roman Catholic Church negotiated the deal, agreed to accept the first group of Cuban exiles. Other dissidents had been freed in Cuba earlier.

Those arriving in Madrid included Lester Gonzalez, Omar Ruiz, Antonio Villarreal, Julio Cesar Galvez, Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, Pablo Pacheco and Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso, according to Spain's foreign ministry.

They came on two flights that left Havana on Monday night along with family members who brought the group to around 35 people.

After a brief news conference, the seven left the airport for a hotel in Madrid.

"It has been a terrible experience," Mr Pacheco said outside the hotel.

"There was the hunger strike of (Guillermo] Farinas and the dialogue between the Cuban Catholic Church. It has been some of the tensest moments of my life."

"Fortunately Farinas has already started to eat and he is getting better," he said.

Opposition activist Mr Farinas ended 134 days on hunger strike last week after Cuba announced the prisoner release pledge.

"We are now here with our families, and I'm hopeful that all of the prisoners will be released," added Mr Ruiz who complained of the lack of information during the ordeal.

"It was very stressful because the Cuban government gave us very little information on what would happen next," he said.

"We were 72 hours with some of the relatives at home not knowing when we would be released."

Mr Pacheco and Mr Ruiz were both independent journalists and were sentenced to 20 and 18 years in jail, respectively, according to Amnesty International.

Spain's foreign ministry said the Cubans would have legal immigrant status with residency and work permits that allow them to live in Spain and travel freely.

The ministry said they would not be treated as refugees or citizens in exile.

Earlier at the airport, Mr Galvez read a statement in the name of those released.

"Our arrival signals the start of a new period in the future of Cuba."

Mr Galvez also is a journalist and was serving 15 years in jail.

Another dissident and journalist denied that the group was being used for propaganda purposes by the Cuban government and said he hoped for freedom for everyone in Cuba.

"We don't consider ourselves manipulated," said Gonzalez Alfonso who has worked for Reporters Without Borders and was serving 20 years in prison. "We are part of a path."

"One of the words that is going around Cuba is the word 'change,"' he added.

"For me, for us, the word change begins with freedom, not just the freedom of our companions but the freedom of all Cuban citizens."

Spain's secretary of Iberoamerican Affairs, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, greeted the seven and noted their release was the result of dialogue between Cuba, the church and Spain. "Spain hopes this dialogue will arrive reach its port safely and produce all its fruits," he said.

"We applaud the efforts of the Cuban Catholic Church, Spain and others who have worked toward the release of prisoners of conscience from jail in Cuba," US assistant secretary of state for public affairs Philip J Crowley said in a statement.

"While the United States continues to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, this is a positive development that we hope will represent a step towards increased respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba," he added.

In Miami, Florida, Ninoska Perez Castellon, a host on Spanish-language exile broadcast Radio Mambi, said the release of the dissidents was Cuba's thinly veiled attempt to get sanctions against the communist island lifted.

"The liberation of the political prisoners doesn't represent anything. They have done it on multiple occasions and the jails have continued filling up. It's not a liberation, it's basically sending them to exile," said Ms Perez, who also is on the board of the Cuban Liberty Council, an exile group that opposes Fidel Castro and the Cuban government.

Cuba's Catholic church says another 13 jailed opposition activists and dissidents will be freed soon.

It was not known if the rest of the 52 dissidents will be allowed to stay in Cuba or forced into exile, but the US, Chile and Spain all have offered asylum.

Several Cuban dissident supporters went to the Madrid airport hoping to meet the seven.

"They have come from jail to the plane. I feel a mix of joy and pain because to live in freedom one must leave the country," said Blanca Reyes, a representative in Madrid for the Cuban dissident group Ladies in White.

Before leaving Havana, Mr Ruiz said that he and the six others were driven to Havana's Jose Marti International airport on Monday, where they were reunited with relatives in a special waiting room. He said Cuban officials were watching them even as they were escorted to the flights.

"That's why I won't consider myself free until I arrive in Spain," he said...