Seven of Eleven Former Black Spring Prisoners Allowed to Travel for “Good Behavior”

Seven of Eleven Former Black Spring Prisoners Allowed to Travel for
"Good Behavior" / 14ymedio
Posted on February 22, 2016

14ymedio, Havana, 22 February 2016 — Former prisoners of the Black
Spring Martha Beatriz Roque and Arnaldo Lauzurique received from the
authorities "a unique opportunity to travel," Roque informed 14ymedio
this Monday, adding that today she will begin the paperwork to apply for
a new passport.

On leaving the Immigration and Nationality Office, located at Factor and
Final Streets in Havana's Nuevo Vedado neighborhood, Roque explained
that Major Orestes Rodriguez Bello assured her that she will be able to
return to the country without problems. He added that this was an
exceptional measure because the beneficiaries "have displayed good
behavior." However, their status as beneficiaries of "parole" is
maintained, and this is not a change in their criminal status.

Seven of the eleven former prisoners of the Black Spring who remain in
Cuba have been summoned to the Immigration offices, presumably to
regularize their situation and allow them to travel abroad before Barack
Obama's visit to the island. So far only two among them have had their
appointments and the rest will do so throughout the morning and the
afternoon.

In the citation they are summoned "to the section covering immigration
and nationality to resolve their immigration status." The document is
signed by Maria Cristina Martinez Bello, according to a report from the
dissident Martha Beatriz Roque to this newspaper.

In addition to Arnaldo Lauzurique and Martha Beatriz Roque, those cited
so far include Oscar Elias Biscet, Hector Maseda, Jorge Olivera, Eduardo
Diaz Fleitas and Félix Navarro.

Those not summoned to appear include Angel Moya, José Daniel Ferrer,
Iván Hernández Carrillo and Librado Linares.

The eleven former prisoners of the Black Spring residing in Cuba have
been prevented from leaving the country under the legal justification
that they are "on parole," a situation that has been widely condemned by
international human rights organizations.

In March of 2003, the government ordered the arrest of 75 dissidents,
including 29 independent journalists. They were sentenced to long prison
terms. In 2010, after mediation through the Catholic Church, they were
released in exchange for their departure to Spain, but the eleven
remaining in Cuba did not want to leave the country.

Source: Seven of Eleven Former Black Spring Prisoners Allowed to Travel
for "Good Behavior" / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/seven-of-eleven-former-black-spring-prisoners-allowed-to-travel-for-good-behavior-14ymedio/