09:44 UK time, Thursday, 8 July 2010
Cuba has agreed to free 52 political detainees in the largest prisoner
release by the communist authorities for decades. Is this a 'new era'
for Cuba?
The Cuban government has been under pressure to free dissidents after
hunger strikes by prisoners such as Guillermo Farinas. Their release
follows talks in Havana with officials from Spain and the Roman Catholic
Church. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, in Havana, said
the move "opens a new era in Cuba".
Cuba has always denied that it has political prisoners, calling them
mercenaries paid by the United States to undermine Havana's rule. Laura
Pollan, of dissident group Ladies in White, whose husband is a political
prisoner, said Cuba was at "the first steps of a true democracy". But
the Cuban Commission on Human Rights claims there are still 110
political prisoners in Cuban jails.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/haveyoursay/2010/07/is_cubas_prisoner_release_the.html
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