AFP, Reuters and Encuentro En la Red are reporting that four members of the Group of 75 are set to be released and allowed to travel, with their families, to Spain to receive medical treatment — and asylum.
The four prisoners are:
Pedro Pablo Álvarez Ramos, 60, an independent librarian and union activist, serving a 25-year prison sentence.
Alejandro González Raga, an independent journalist serving a 14-year prison sentence. He is about 50 years old.
Omar Pernet Hernández, 62, a human rights activist and independent librarian, serving a 25-year prison sentence.
Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo, 50, an independent journalist, serving a 20-year sentence.
AFP reports on how the deal was struck:
The four members of the group of 75 will be granted asylum in Spain along with their family members, said Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos."It is a unilateral decision by the Cuban authorities that we appreciate," he told a news conference in the southern city of Cordoba.
"We will continue to encourage the Cuban authorities to make progress in this area which is very close to us, and I think to the Cubans," he said.
The announcement comes after Spain and Cuba held talks on human rights in Madrid this week.
In all, reports are that seven political prisoners will be released. However, the names of the three other prisoners were not disclosed.
Moratinos and the Spanish government, must be watched closely, but this is welcome news, especially for the affected prisoners and their families.
But more than meriting Cuba any acclaim, it should remind the world of the hundreds of journalists, human rights activists, librarians and other opponents of the regime, who remain locked in the gulag. The pressure, whether from Spain — which until now had shown an unwillingness to squeeze Havana on the question of political prisoners — and elsewhere in the world, must continue.
(Cross-posted at Babalú.)
Recent Comments