Cuba dissidents says 36 activists freed as part of deal with US
Opposition activists are freed following Cuban and US governments agreeing to renew diplomatic relations in December
Angel Figueredo stands next to his wife Haydee Gallardo who hugs their son Reynier at their home in Havana. Figueredo and Gallardo, who is a member of the "Ladies in White" dissident group, are among eight detainees who were freed today Photo: REUTERS
By Reuters
5:33PM GMT 09 Jan 2015
One of Cuba's most prominent dissident groups said on Friday that 36 opposition activists, including a popular hip-hop artist, have been freed in the last two days as part of a deal to improve relations between Cuba and the United States.
The dissident Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) said 29 of its members were among those released, and that most had been warned by the communist government they would be sent back to prison if they continued their opposition activities.
"Our freed prisoners are committed to continue fighting for the democratic Cuba which we all want," UNPACU's leader Jose Daniel Ferrer said in a statement.
"The UNPACU activists have left prison with more energy, force and motivation than they had when they were jailed."
Cuba's commitment to free 53 prisoners was a key part of the historic deal announced on December 17 under which the Cuban and US governments agreed to renew diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of hostilities.
Almost all of those freed so far appear on an informal list of political prisoners drawn up several months ago by dissidents, but it is not known if they were all on the list of 53 that the United States negotiated with Cuba.
Details about who will be freed have been withheld by both governments, providing ammunition for US opponents of the detente, who have complained that Barack Obama has not pushed Cuba hard enough on human rights and that the government in Havana was not living up to its side of the bargain.
The White House hailed the releases. "The United States welcomes the substantial and ongoing releases of prisoners in Cuba," senior White House official Ben Rhodes said on Friday.
"So good to see people reunited with their families."
Most of those released over the last two days were accused of such offenses as resisting arrest and threatening police officers, and had been given short sentences of two to five years.
The hip-hop artist, Angel Yunier Remon, known as "The Critic", was serving the longest prison term, eight years.
Remon was arrested in 2013 after painting a giant slogan, "Down With The Dictatorship!", on the street outside his home in the eastern city of Bayamo. He staged several hunger strikes while behind bars, and said he contracted cholera due to the unsanitary prison conditions.
"I'm so happy to be back with my family, my children, and my wife," Remon told Reuters by telephone from Bayamo on Friday morning, adding that he had no plans to give up working for the opposition.
Others who were freed include Angel Figueredo and Haydee Gallardo, a married couple arrested last year after shouting anti-government slogans at a rally.
Opposition groups say most of those released over the past couple of days were set free on the condition that they report regularly to the authorities.
