Release all political prisoners
Re Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega's announcement that five political
prisoners were being released by the Cuban regime and 47 others will be
released within the next few months:
It is always good when political captives are released. It is
encouraging that after all these years, Cardinal Ortega bears witness to
the suffering of the Cuban people.
It is discouraging, however, that Raúl Castro's government is not
releasing immediately, as requested by Amnesty International, the 47
prisoners mentioned by the cardinal. All of them are Amnesty
International prisoners of conscience, and none of them engage or
advocated in any acts of violence.
Besides the 52 prisoners mentioned, there are about 200 other Cubans in
prison for ``crimes'' that are not criminal offenses in the civilized
world. From ``dangerousness,'' meaning the person has not committed any
crime, but is believed by the regime to be inclined to do so, to
``propaganda enemiga,'' which includes the possession of books such as
George Orwell's Animal Farm or speaking in support of sanctions against
Havana by the European Union or the United States.
In 1957, the hated dictator Fulgencio Batista released all political
prisoners, including Fidel and Raúl Castro, and allowed them to remain
in Cuba and reinsert themselves into Cuba's civil society. The
government of Raúl Castro is not releasing all political prisoners, and
for many of those who, hopefully, will be released, it will be on the
condition of going into exile.
The Center for a Free Cuba calls on the international community to
continue pressuring the Cuban regime to release all political prisoners,
including Alan Gross, an American in prison in Cuba since December for
giving a laptop and a cellphone to Cubans. The international community
should also insist that the Cuban government allow the International
Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch
and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to visit the island.
FRANK CALZON, executive director, Center for a Free Cuba, Arlington, Va.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/09/1722309/release-all-political-prisoners.html
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