Guillermo Farinas vows hunger strike if 'Group of 13' not released (UPDATED)

No individual Cuban not named Orlando Zapata Tamayo is more responsible for the release this year of 39 Cuban prisoners of conscience than Guillermo Farinas. His 134-day hunger strike this past spring and summer, which started the day after Zapata died, forced the Castro regime, and its partners in the Catholic Church and the Spanish government, to forge an agreement for the release of the island's best known political prisoners.

Farinas, who last month received Europe's top human rights prize, vowed to re-start his protest if Cuba did not release all the prisoners covered by the deal. Since Cuba has apparently missed a Sunday deadline to release the 13 remaining prisoners, it is no surprise that Farinas is preparing for a new hunger strike.

As for the church, the best one official, the Rev. Jose Felix Perez, could say about the missed deadline is this:

"It is not what we thought would happen."

UPDATED, 1:45 p.m. EDT -- Farinas has backed off his threat, apparently at the request of the prisoners' family members.

But well familiar with the regime's duplicity and bad motives, Farians is not optimistic the dictatorship will release the prisoners soon.

"This government has demonstrated that it cannot keep its word," Farinas told The Associated Press by phone from his home in the central city of Villa Clara. (emphasis added)