Cuba releases the first prisoners after agreement

Cuba has begun releasing the first of hundreds of prisoners it agreed to release following an agreement with the United States.

Under the agreement brokered by the Catholic Church, President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism just days before his term ends.

In exchange, the Cuban government said it would release 553 people, many of whom were detained during the anti-government protests that hit the communist island in 2021.

While Havana has cautiously welcomed the agreement, there are questions about how long it will last after President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, appeared to hint that it could be reversed.

At his Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday, Rubio said, referring to some of the sanctions on Cuba that the Biden administration rescinded on Tuesday, that “the new administration is not bound by that decision.”

Previously, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, had said on Fox News that “whatever they (the Biden administration) are doing now, we can do it again, and no one should get their hopes up in terms of a change.” in Cuban Politics”.

Despite doubts raised by Trump administration officials, Cuba released about 20 prisoners on Wednesday, according to local NGOs.

One of those released was Donaida Pérez Paseiro, 53, sentenced to eight years in prison for participating in the 2021 anti-government protests, during which citizens demanded that the Cuban government do more to alleviate widespread food and price shortages in lower spiral.

In a video she posted on social media, Pérez Paseiro said the Cuban government had used her and her fellow prisoners as a “bargaining chip” to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

In the recording he also said that he would continue “fighting for the freedom of Cuba.”

Dariel Cruz García was also among those released on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sedition after joining the 2021 protests.

He told Reuters that officials had announced that he would be able to serve the remainder of his sentence, which has been reduced since he was originally sentenced, at home.

“I escaped from hell to be with my family. I will behave well so I can move forward,” he told the news agency.

The vice president of Cuba’s highest court, Maricela Sosa, said on television that those released had not received amnesty or been pardoned and warned that they could be arrested again if they violated the terms of their conditional release.

There are also still hundreds of families waiting for news about whether their loved ones will be among the 553 the government agreed to release.

“They are desperate, all waiting with tremendous anxiety for a call from their children,” Dariel Cruz García’s mother told Reuters.