No Releases for Cuban Political Prisoners

The government of Cuba recently moved six political prisoners to jailers nearer to their family homes. The deal for this move was negotiated by Cardinal Jaime Ortega of the Roman Catholic Church who met with Cuban dictator Raul Castro to beg for humane treatment and release of political prisoners in the troubled nation.

The Cuban government is currently holding approximately 200 political prisoners. Seventy-five of those were imprisoned during a massive round-up of community activists in 2003, including the six who were relocated last month.

Community activist Elizardo Sanchez, president of the Havana-based Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, was quoted by The Associated Press as stating that the transfers “don’t satisfy our hopes, nor do they satisfy the hopes of the international community, which is seeking the prisoners’ unconditional release.”

Cardinal Ortega and the community activists are pressing for the release of twenty-six prisoners who are suffering from ill health due to their ages and the poor prison conditions which are endemic to the socialist nation.

The Cuban government has been under heightened international pressure since the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo after a hunger strike in protest of repeated beatings he received from Cuban government officials at the Kilo 7 prison in the province of Camagüey.