Havana/The NGO Amnesty International (AI) on Monday accused the Cuban government of “irregularities” and “lack of transparency” in the release process of 553 prisoners announced after the agreement between Washington and Havana, mediated by the Vatican and announced in the last days of the presidency of Joe Biden.
Cited by an AI statement, the director for the Americas of the organization, Ana Piquer, censored that the island’s authorities “have not recognized the existence of detained persons for political reasons” nor have they “published a list of names of those who will be included in this process. ”
Piquer said that the regime has not “had the will to guarantee an immediate and unconditional freedom of prisoners of consciousness such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo, Loreto Hernández, Roberto Pérez Fonseca or Sayli Navarro.”
Six days before leaving the White House, Biden withdrew Cuba from the list of sponsoring countries of terrorism. Hours later, the Cuban Foreign Ministry confirmed that it would initiate an release process of 553 people convicted of “various crimes.”
“The prey for political reasons have been once again used dehumanizingly”
Officially, Havana has never linked the terrorist list and the release – only Washington has spoken in agreement – and soon hastened to clarify that the beneficiaries were on probation, so their penalty did not extinguish.
Various organizations such as Prisoners Defenders or Justice 11J warned that the releases were stopped in the weekend before Donald Trump took possession, on January 20. One of the first decisions of the current US president was to reintroduce Cuba in the blacklist.
“Alarm the possible cancellation or pause of releases, which would seem to show that people prey for political reasons have been once again used dehumanizing, such as change sheets in a political game, without their lives, their physical integrity and their Rights are taken into account, “said Piquer in the statement.
According to the NGO, 172 prisoners have been released and another nine have received some change in their legal regime, mostly participants in the anti -government manifestations of July 11, 2021 (11J). Prisoners Defenders, on the other hand, figure in 200 the political prisoners released, and said that some common prisoners have also accredited.
Among the beneficiaries are historical opponents, such as Félix Navarro and José Daniel Ferrer, and activists such as Pedro Albert Sánchez, Luis Robles and the Lady of Blanco Tania Echeverría. However, there are still many prisoners considered politicians, including some with international recognition such as artists and activists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo, qualified as prisoners of consciousness by Amnesty International.
