Former Cuban political prisoner Hector Palacios, a member of the Group of 75 released from prison last year because of poor health, is being allowed to travel to Spain to receive medical care, according to EFE.
Palacios, who suffers from cardiovascular and respiratory problems and blood clots, and his wife Gisela Delgado, will be traveling to Madrid on Saturday on three-month visas, and Palacios insists he has no interest in emigrating from Cuba. Delgado say they would return because of their "responsibilities to the struggle," for freedom on the island.
(There's no reason to doubt their sincerity, but who could blame them if they are lying?)
A sociologist, Palacios, now 66, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, during the "black spring" of March-April 2003. He was released from prison this past December.
The Castro regime deserves no praise for its surprise decision to allow Palacios to travel to Spain.
After all, as the EFE story notes, he is only the fifth member of the Group of 75 allowed to leave Cuba.
Of the journalists, librarians, human rights activists and other dissidents arrested during the "black spring," 16 have been released because of their poor health. Only four have been allowed to go into exile — one to Spain, one to Sweden and two to the United States.
Palacios, who called on the dictatorship to release all political prisoners, said at least 32 of the remaining 59 Group of 75 members still in prison, are suffering from serious medical ailments.
As best as I could tell from the Spanish-language EFE story, there was no mention of the irony of a Cuban leaving Cuba, with its "free" and "wonderful" health care system, to seek medical treatment elsewhere.
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