Seven Cuban prisoners arrive in Madrid; some staying behind
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
At least 10 Cuban political prisoners are refusing a government offer to
leave for Spain, relatives say, while the seven newly freed dissidents
who arrived in Madrid Tuesday vowed to continue their activism from exile.
``Each person has taken the road they consider best,'' Ricardo Gonzalez
told reporters upon arrival in Spain.``For us, exile is an extension of
the struggle, and one can struggle in many ways.''
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos meanwhile announced
another four jailed dissidents would be freed and fly to Madrid late
Tuesday as part of the Raúl Castro government's agreement to free 52 of
Cuba's estimated 167 political prisoners over the next four months.
U.S. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said Washington wants
all political prisoners freed but called the release of the first seven
``a positive development that we hope will represent a step toward
increased respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba.''
``All those released from prison should be free to decide for themselves
whether to remain in Cuba or travel to another country,'' Crowley added,
referring to allegations that Cuban authorities are improperly pushing
the dissidents to agree to leave the island.
The seven were taken directly from prison to the Iberia and Air Europe
jetliners that flew them and about 30 relatives to Madrid ``as though
they were dangerous criminals,'' said Ladies in White spokeswoman Berta
Soler.
Cuban Catholic church officials, who negotiated the releases with
Castro, have said 20 of the 52 political prisoners have agreed to leave
the island -- and insisted any departures are strictly voluntary. The 52
are the last still in prison of the 75 peaceful opposition activists
rounded up in a 2003 crackdown on dissent.
Although leading political prisoner Oscar Elias Biscet was arrested the
year before, he has been included in several of the unofficial lists of
dissidents to be released under the Castro-church agreement.
He is one of the 10 jailed dissidents who have said they will not go
into exile, said his wife of 19 years, Elsa Morejón, by telephone from
Havana.
``He has always said no, and he's still saying no'' to leaving the
island, added Morejón, who spoke Saturday by phone with Biscet at
Havana's Combinado del Este prison. ``And I respect his position.''
Morejón said Biscet also told her Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega had not
phoned him to ask if he wanted to leave the island -- as Ortega has done
with most of the other 51. Prison authorities also have told him nothing
about a possible release.
Biscet, 49, a physician serving a 25-year sentence on charges of being a
U.S. agent, was arrested dozens of times between 1997 and 1999. From
1999 until this year, he was out of jail for only 36 days in 2002. In
2007, he won the U.S. Medal of Freedom, awarded by the George W. Bush
administration.
Morejón identified the other prisoners refusing to go into exile as
Eduardo Diaz Fleitas, Regis Iglesias Ramirez, Pedro Argüelles Moran,
Librado Linares, Jose Daniel Ferrer, Arnaldo Lauzerique, Diosdado
Gonzales Marrero, Ivan Hernández Carrillo and Fidel Suarez Cruz.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/13/1728695/seven-cuban-prisoners-arrive-in.html
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