MOSCOW, January 11 (Sputnik) — Cuba has freed 38 opposition activists from prison over the past two days, including a popular hip-hop artist, as part of a deal to improve relations with the United States, reports Reuters.
“Our freed prisoners are committed to continue fighting for the democratic Cuba which we all want,” UNPACU’s leader Jose Daniel Ferrer told Reuters.
Last month President Raul Castro struck a historic deal with the United States to end 50 years of diplomatic hostilities, the decision that came following the release of American prisoner Alan Gross, who was imprisoned in Cuba for five years.
Announcement of his unproven death raced across social media sites despite the absence of evidence, causing people and media personnel to gather in Little Havana in Miami, reported UK Independent.
As reported by Reuters, opposition groups also expressed concern over those released dissidents, saying that they were set free on the condition that they report regularly to the authorities.
US Senator Marco Rubio, a leading critic of Obama’s new Cuba policy, said those terms do not account to freedom.
Cuba’s government has said nothing about this week’s releases. It says there are no political prisoners in Cuba and normally describes dissidents as US-paid “mercenaries,” reports Reuters.
