Cuba starts its prisoner release

Cuba began releasing prisoners on Wednesday under a deal with departing US President Joe Biden to remove the communist island from a list of terrorism sponsors.

Cubans wait to enter the US embassy in Havana to apply for a visa, a day after Joe Biden decided to remove Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism. Picture: AFP

Cuba began releasing prisoners on Wednesday under a deal with departing US President Joe Biden to remove the communist island from a list of terrorism sponsors.

Relatives and friends of about a dozen prisoners announced their release, which Cuba had agreed to as part of a deal to free 553 prisoners held for “various crimes”, including many for taking part in anti-government demonstrations on July 11, 2021, over recurring power blackouts and soaring food prices – the biggest on the island since the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959.

Donald Trump added Cuba to the terrorism list at the end of his first term as president. The deal is widely expected to be overturned by the incoming president and his pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants who is very critical of the island’s communist leadership.

“We received a call yesterday evening to go to the prison today,” Rosabel Loreto said, adding that her mother-in-law. ­Donaida Perez Paseiro, 53, had been freed from a jail in the central province of Villa Clara.

A man sits next to a poster of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana. Picture: AFP

In Havana, a woman who asked to remain anonymous said her daughter, who was jailed for demonstrating against the government, had also been freed from a jail in the city.

Writing on X, the Mexico-based Justicia 11J NGO, named after the date of the 2021 protests, reported the release of ­another detainee.

Cuban authorities have not released a list of prisoners to be freed nor confirmed they have begun releasing them.

Explaining Mr Biden’s 11th-hour policy change on Cuba, a US official said: “An assessment has been completed, and we do not have information that supports Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.”

Cuba welcomed Washington’s announcement on Tuesday as a step in the “right direction”, but lamented that it was still under US trade embargo since 1962.

Cuba blames the US blockade for its worst economic crisis in decades, marked by shortages of fuel, food, medicines and ­electricity.

According to the authorities, about 500 people were given sentences of up to 25 years in prison for participating in the demonstrations, but rights groups and the US embassy in Havana say the figure was closer to 1000.

Some have already been freed after serving their sentences.

AFP