Cuba began the release of political prisoners after leaving the list of promoters of terrorism

The Cuban Government began this Wednesday the releases of 553 prisoners which he announced on Tuesday following Washington’s decision to remove Havana from its list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

Among the first people to be released from prison are Dariel Cruz García, Lisdiany Rodríguez Isaac and Donaida Pérez Paseiro, considered prisoners for political reasons according to the main human rights NGOs in Cuba. They have all been released from prison (which legally is not the same as released).

Relatives of several prisoners for political reasons They were summoned without explanation first thing in the morning this Wednesday to penitentiary centers after the Cuban Government’s announcement the day before that it would release 553 prisoners gradually.

“The releases are carried out on the basis of a careful analysis based on the different modalities contemplated by the legislation and as part of the fair and humanitarian nature of the penal and penitentiary systems of Cuba,” said a statement from the Cuban Foreign Ministry. , on Tuesday. “These people will receive their respective benefits gradually.”

The statement was addressed as a letter to Pope Francis, who intervened to make the release possible.

Although unusualit is not the first time that the Catholic Church intervenes in mediations of this nature. At the end of the last decade, dozens of opponents who had been imprisoned and tried in a raid in 2003 were ordered to be released and leave the country.

The United States government informed Congress on Tuesday of its intention to withdraw the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, the White House announced on Tuesday, as part of an agreement facilitated by the Catholic Church to release political prisoners on the island. .

Federal government officials, who spoke about the announcement on condition of anonymity, said “many dozens” of political prisoners and others considered by the United States to be unjustly detained would be released. before President Joe Biden’s administration ends on January 20 at noon.

United States too will ease some economic pressures on Cuba, as well as a 2017 memo issued by then-President Donald Trump that hardened the United States’ stance toward Cuba.

In Cuba, the Cuban authorities considered the United States announcement as positive, but not enough, given that the bulk of the embargo and the damage caused is still in force.