Cuba began releasing some prisoners Wednesday as part of talks with the Vatican, a day after President Joe Biden's administration announced its intention to lift the U.S. designation of the island nation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
More than a dozen people were arrested after participating in historic protests in 2021, among them convicted of various crimes, according to Cuban civil society groups that tracked the cases of detainees on the island. He was reportedly released the same day.
Among those released is Reina Yakunara Barreto Batista, 24, a tattoo artist who was detained during the 2021 protests and sentenced to four years in prison for assault and abuse of public order. was also included.
She was released from a prison in Camaguey province, and eight men were also released with her, she told The Associated Press.
The U.S. government announced Tuesday that it has notified Congress of its intention to lift Cuba's designation as part of an agreement facilitated by the Vatican.
Cuban authorities plan to release some by the end of the Biden administration on January 20, officials said.
Hours later, Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the government had notified Pope Francis that it would release 553 prisoners in stages, with authorities working to effectuate their release in a legal and humane manner.
Havana did not link the release of the prisoners to the US decision to dedesignate it, but it referred to the Vatican's 25-year tradition and said it was “in the spirit of the Universal Jubilee of 2025 proclaimed by the Pope.” He said that. Jubilee year when Catholics make a pilgrimage to Rome.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on Wednesday did not mention the release (similar to his position the previous day, indicating that the two are separate issues), but said that removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism would be an option. Mentioned.
“While we can revoke a country's status on the list, we cannot undo the tremendous damage that has been done to American foreign policy,” he told The Associated Press. “This list has proven not to be a tool or tool in the fight against terrorism, but rather a brutal and mere means of political coercion against sovereign states.”
The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, a civil society group, announced that 18 people, including Barreto Batista, had been released by 4 p.m. ET.
“They knocked at 3 a.m.,” Barreto Batista told The Associated Press by phone. “I was sleeping (in the cell) and they told me to collect all my belongings, saying I was free.”
She and the eight men said they were warned that this was not a pardon or reprieve and that they could be sent back to prison if they did not behave in a good manner.
“I'm at home with my mom,” she said. “The whole family is celebrating.”
In July 2021, thousands of Cubans took to the streets to protest widespread power outages and power shortages amid a severe economic crisis.
The government's crackdown on protesters, including arrests and detentions, has sparked international criticism, with Cuban officials blaming U.S. sanctions and a media campaign for the violence.
In November, another Cuban non-governmental organization, Justice 11J, announced that 554 people remained in detention in connection with the protests.
Biden's intention to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism could come as soon as after President-elect Donald Trump takes office and Marco Rubio, his nominee for Secretary of State, becomes America's top diplomat. It is likely to be overturned next week.
Rubio, whose family left Cuba in the 1950s before the communist revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, has long supported sanctions on the communist island.
