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Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Cuban dissidents out of prison but not entirely free

Cuban dissidents out of prison but not entirely free
By Daniel Trotta and Rosa Tania Valdés

HAVANA (Reuters) - Most of the 53 Cuban prisoners released from jail
under a historic U.S.-Cuba accord remain bound to the justice system
under conditions that could easily return them to prison, dissident
leaders say.

While they doubt Cuba's communist government would risk its
rapprochement with the United States by putting former prisoners back
behind bars, they say the 53 released are not entirely free.

"It was done with the sword of Damocles hanging over them," said Rafael
Molina, a leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), the country's
largest dissident organization.

About one-third of the 38 people released last week are subject to
"conditional release," meaning they must periodically report to the
courts supervising their cases, said the dissident Cuban Commission of
Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

Another third were released on parole, requiring them to serve out their
terms outside prison but unable to leave the country, it said.

Others were simply freed pending trial, with charges still intact, or
had their sentences altered.

Virtually all can be returned to jail for minor offenses and some say
they were told to stay away from opposition politics.

"None of them have unconditional freedom. None of them," said Elizardo
Sanchez, leader of the commission, although he added he did not believe
the government would harass them.

Haydee Gallardo, 51, and her husband were among those released last week
and she took part in a protest march organized by the Ladies in White
group over the weekend.

Though she believes she is one of the few to have no conditions set on
her release, she says she worries her husband Angel Figueredo, 53, could
be returned to jail.

"I don't think the repression will stop considering that they continue
to keep watch over us," Gallardo told Reuters. "I'm afraid the
repression will result in him getting locked up again."

Figueredo said he was never told what he could or could not do outside
of prison, but that he has received more subtle messages. After leaving
the Ladies in White march, he said he saw a state security officer whom
he recognized, watching from his car.

"He gave me a threatening nod of the head, but he didn't stop me or talk
to us," he said.

STIGMA, SUSPICION

Released dissidents often return to their homes stigmatized, enduring
suspicions from Cubans who show little or no sympathy for those who
openly challenge the one-party system.

They often encounter difficulty finding jobs, and relatives may be
declined promotions or coveted spots in universities.

Interior Ministry officials historically have told those on parole not
to engage in politics, but many have defied the order without
consequence, presuming they are protected by their high profiles.

As part of the deal to restore diplomatic relations after five decades
of hostility, the U.S. government negotiated the release of 53 people it
considered political prisoners.

Cuba had already released 17 of them by the time the deal was announced
on Dec. 17 and has since set free the other 36, plus at least two more
who were not on the U.S. list.

Senior U.S. officials have welcomed the mass release.

Cuban officials have said little but they deny the dissidents qualify as
political prisoners, instead dismissing them as a tiny minority of
mercenaries working for the United States.

While most Cubans support the revolution or are apolitical, there are
pockets of dissent, as in David Bustamante's neighborhood in the central
city of Santa Clara.

Bustamante, 23, was arrested in May after climbing onto his roof and
shouting slogans, demanding that Cuba feed its people.

He was arrested and held for six months before being convicted of public
disorder and disrespecting Cuban authorities. One of the 53 on the U.S.
list, he was freed on Dec. 9 on conditional release.

Now, he says, he is subject to a curfew and has been warned not to
resume political activism.

"I don't feel free," Bustamante told Reuters by telephone. "This is a
mockery and it shows they are mocking us. They are snatching our freedom
every day because we don't have freedom of expression."

Martha Beatriz Roque, 69, has lived under what Cuba calls "extrapenal
license," or parole, for 10 years. She is out of prison but unable to
leave Cuba and presumes she is closely watched by state security.

"There are a lot of things you can't do and other things you don't know
whether you can do or not," Roque told Reuters. "Those under extrapenal
license depend on a judge, to whom you have to report regularly. Those
on conditional release are constantly responding to the justice system,
any time the system decides."

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Rosa Tania Valdés; Editing by Kieran Murray)

Source: Cuban dissidents out of prison but not entirely free - Yahoo
News -
http://news.yahoo.com/cuban-dissidents-prison-not-entirely-free-191940060.html;_ylt=AwrBEiI5erZUMSkAAQPQtDMD

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