Arizona Tribune - Cuba starts freeing prisoners after US terror list deal

In his final days in office, Biden has rushed through a series of actions designed to cement his legacy, both on the domestic and foreign fronts, before handing back power next week to Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, he removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism to which it was added by Trump at the end of his first term as president.

Cuba in return announced it would release 553 prisoners held for "various crimes," including a number of people jailed for taking part in mass anti-government protests, under a deal brokered by the Vatican.

The deal is widely expected to be overturned by Trump and his pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants who is very critical of the island's communist leadership.

- Anti-government protesters freed -

On Wednesday morning, the relatives and friends of around a dozen prisoners announced their release on social media.

Most had been imprisoned after 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.

AFP spoke to the relatives of two freed prisoners.

"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.

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 the social network 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 the prisoners to be freed nor confirmed that they have begun releasing them.

- Trade embargo remains -

Explaining Biden's eleventh-hour policy change on Cuba, a US official told reporters: "An assessment has been completed, and we do not have information that supports Cuba's designation as being a state sponsor of terrorism."

The official said that in return Cuba had agreed to release "political prisoners in Cuba and those who have been detained unjustly."

Cuba welcomed Washington's announcement Tuesday as a step in the "right direction," but lamented 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.

Hundreds of thousands of people have emigrated to the United States in the last two years, legally or illegally, according to US figures.

The 2021 protests marked a rare public show of discontent with Cuba's communist regime.

One person was killed and dozens injured.

According to the authorities, some 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 1,000.

Some have already been freed after serving their sentences.

T.Wright--AT