Cuba to set free three political prisoners, 50 since July

Cuba has approved the release of three political prisoners who will leave for Spain, which will take the number of freed dissidents since July to 50, the Archbishop of Havana’s office said Monday.

There are still 13 dissidents in prison however out of a group of 52 the government specifically agreed to release, said the office which has been a mediator in the dissidents’ cases.

The latest dissidents due to be freed are Adrian Alvarez Arencibia, who has been in jail for espionage since 1985; Fidel Basulto Garcia, who was arrested in 1994 for transport piracy; and Joel Torres Gonzalez, who has been in jail for illegal emigration-related crimes.

“They will be released shortly,” the statement from the archbishop’s office said.

National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcon said in Geneva on July 20 that the Americas’ only one-party Communist government wants to free all of those on international dissident lists who have not been imprisoned for violent crimes.