The release this year of 39 of Cuba's best-recognized political prisoners, and the promised release of others, has some ready to treat the Castro dictatorship as something other than the lying, thieving, murdering regime that has been the scourge of Cuba and Cubans for more than 51 years.
But before you order your Cuban cigars or plan your beach vacation on Varadero, consider this:
At the same time that in September the Castro regime released 15 political prisoners, another 90 dissidents were arrested, detained, presumably warned and/or threatened to end their activism and then after a few hours or days, released. Through Sept. 30, there had been at least 1,220 such arrests in Cuba.
On this point, the Spanish government, the Catholic Church of Cuba and others eager to apologize for the dictatorship, have been silent.
Human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez, the source of the arrest count, said the detentions reveal a "metamorphis of repression" in Cuba.
Whatever shape it takes, repression in Cuba is as strong and omnipresent and nefarious as ever.
On that point, the numbers don't lie.
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