CUBA: Relatives of political prisoners react to latest news about pending releases

Record ID: 368272

  • Title: CUBA: Relatives of political prisoners react to latest news about pending releases
  • Date: 9th July 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ESPINO GALLEGO SAYING: "I'm so emotional. I hardly have words. I was always positive about their release because I'm a Jehovah's witness. We are neutral. But, well, one always has hope and doesn't lose faith. I feel happy and grateful for everything they've done for him." VARIOUS OF MOLINET'S FATHER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ESPINO GALLEGO SAYING: "Difficult, very difficult. My husband got Alzheimers. I got sick with diabetes and tendenitous in the arms and legs. It was difficult." ELSA MOREJON, POLITICAL PRISONER OSCAR ELIAS BISCET'S WIFE, WALKING WITH PHOTO OF BISCET
  • Embargoed: 24th July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAADQG2YWJHR6BKVHVVB3XQGDUT
  • Story Text: Relatives of Cuban political prisoners celebrated on Thursday (July 08) as the Catholic Church announced the government would move six prisoners closer to their homes.
    The Cuban government announced it will release 52 prisoners in the coming weeks.
    Havana's archbishop released the information in a note that signals the beginning of the largest prisoner release in decades, the result of talks between the government and church officials.
    The prisoners were part of the 'Group of 75', dissidents jailed in 2003 in a crackdown by the Castro administration that strained relations with the international community, especially the EU.
    Caridad Espino Gallego, the mother of prisoner Nelson Molinet, was overcome with emotion.
    "I'm so emotional. I hardly have words. I was always positive about their release because I'm a Jehovah's witness. We are neutral. But, well, one always has hope and doesn't lose faith. I feel happy and grateful for everything they've done for him," she said.
    Espino Gallego spoke of her family's difficulties in the face of their son's imprisonment.
    "Difficult, very difficult. My husband got Alzheimers. I got sick with diabetes and tendenitous in the arms and legs. It was difficult."
    Elsa Morejon, the wife of prisoner Oscar Elias Biscet, said the possibility of her husband's release changes her life.
    "I think it's going to change me. It's going to improve my emotional state. I feel complete as a woman, as a wife and as a professional, but the separation from him has been very hard. And I think his entering in the home again will help his psychological recovery," she said.
    The pending releases prompted dissident Guillermo Farinas to end his 135 day hunger strike. He began his strike the day after the February 23 death of hunger-striking dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo.
    Zapata's death brought a wave of international criticism and shortly after Raul Castro started talks with the church.
    Oscar Espinosa Chepe, himself a former political prisoner, said the move could put the heat on some of the communist government's more radical elements.
    "I think this corners some of the more stubborn elements in the government. It takes their power and strength away because they were the ones who sent these people to prison. And now that they are letting them go it's very positive," Chepe said.
    Chepe added that the process must continue in other sectors.
    "No one can be against this. Everyone who is reasonable has to see this as encouraging. I think we have to get behind this so it deepens and continues and doesn't just stop at the release of these prisoners. It's very important this process continues," Chepe added.
    Cuban television commentator Lee Mariuska Diaz gave details of the release on state-run television.
    "The development of this process has permitted the release of one prisoner and the transfer of another 12 to provinces where they live. Between this meeting and the meeting earlier with Cardinal Ortega we've been informed that in the coming hours another six prisoners will be taken to their provinces of residence and five more will be freed and will be allowed to go to Spain with their families. Beyond that, Cuban authorities said the 47 prisoners left of those arrested in 2003 will be freed and will be able to leave the country," she said.
    Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos joined the discussions this week in Havana to give support to the church's efforts.
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