Freed Cuban political prisoner arrives in Chile
By CARLA CANDIA
Associated Press Writer
SANTIAGO, Chile -- A Cuban dissident released from prison by Raul
Castro's government arrived Wednesday in the Chilean capital, where he
and his family have been given political refugee status, a house and jobs.
Holding flags of both nations, Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo thanked Chilean
President Sebastian Pinera and other officials for receiving him in a
country that "has set an example in human rights, freedom and democracy
in the last 20 years."
"I feel a rare mix of joy and sorrow," Izquierdo told reporters at
Santiago's international airport, accompanied by his wife, two children,
a nephew and his in-laws.
"Joy from being in such a great nation ... and sorrow for the
extraordinary family I left behind in Cuba," he said, referring to nine
other relatives still on the island.
Izquierdo is one of the so-called Group of 75 political prisoners
arrested and imprisoned in 2003 during a crackdown on dissidents.
Twenty-three had been freed previously, and under a deal brokered last
month by local Roman Catholic Church leaders, the government agreed to
release the rest. So far 20 have been sent with their families to Spain,
with subsequent releases expected to take months.
In Cuba, Izquierdo was an "independent journalist," one of a small group
of opposition activists who report on the island for media overseas in
defiance of the government's monopoly over the domestic press. He had
been sentenced to 16 years in prison for violating an article of the
penal code that calls for 10- to 20-year sentences for those "who, in
the interest of a foreign state, commit an act with the objective of
damaging the independence or territorial integrity of the Cuban state."
Cuban authorities tolerate no organized opposition and routinely dismiss
all dissidents as paid "mercenaries" of the United States.
Upon release, Izquierdo traveled first to Madrid before moving on to
what will be a more permanent residence in a five-bedroom house in
Santiago - a far cry from the windowless, cockroach- and rat-infested
cell where he said he spent the last years.
He will receive a $700 monthly stipend from the Chilean government for
several months and be given an unspecified job at a neighborhood city hall.
Izquierdo accused Cuba's communist government of being a repressive,
"Stalinist dictatorship that survives thanks to the support of populist
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez."
Pinera - a conservative who took office this year, ending 20 years of
leftist governments following Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship - has
been critical of the government in Havana and said he is willing to give
refuge to multiple Cuban dissidents.
Chilean Sen. Patricio Walker said officials have been talking to other
ex-prisoners who want to come to Chile, but nothing has been decided yet.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/04/1761475/freed-cuban-political-prisoner.html
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