Cuba releases another independent librarian from prison

[Steve Marquardt]

Nelson Alberto Aguiar Ramirez, who operated the Eddy Chibás
Independent Library (Havana) and had been serving a 13 year sentenced
imposed in April 2003, has been released from prison on October 20,
2009. See the news stories below.

In keeping with the old Soviet tradition, his release seems to be
something of a party favor on the occasion of the visit of Spain's
foreign minister.

Of the 25 independent library managers arrested and sentenced in the
2003 crackdown, ten have now been released and 15 remain in prison.

Steve Marquardt
9383 123rd Avenue SE
Lake Lillian, Minnesota 56253-4700
(320) 664-4231
http://groups.google.com/group/Cuba451Letters


SOURCE: http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Cuba/idUSTRE59J3KD20091020

Cuba frees prisoner, Spain sees goodwill gesture
Tuesday Oct 20, 2009
By Esteban Israel

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's government has released one of its estimated
200 political prisoners in a gesture of goodwill following a visit by
Spain's foreign minister, Cuban dissidents and Spanish diplomats said
on Tuesday.

Spain portrayed the release as a vindication of its policy of
engagement, instead of confrontation, with the communist-led island
that has resisted outside pressures to change since the 1959
revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.

Nelson Aguiar, a 64-year-old electrician who was sentenced to 13 years
in prison in a 2003 government crackdown on opponents, was freed on
Tuesday morning and is back with his family in Havana, dissidents told
Reuters.

In addition, Cuba agreed to release from jail a Spanish businessman
accused of paying off Cuban officials. But he must remain in Cuba for
his trial, diplomats said.

Cuban dissidents said that, officially, Aguiar was released for health
reasons.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Cuban government, which
presents dissidents as U.S.-aided traitors and says it has no
political prisoners.

Elizardo Sanchez of the independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights
said the release was a gesture to Spain, whose foreign minister,
Miguel Angel Moratinos, completed a two-day visit to Havana on Monday.

Moratinos, who met Cuban President Raul Castro on Monday, did not meet
with dissidents during his visit because he told reporters he was in
Cuba to "strengthen bilateral relations."

He said he and Raul Castro, who replaced elder brother Fidel Castro as
president last year, discussed human rights "in general terms."

"It's the same thing as always: the Castros giving prisoners as
gifts," said Sanchez. A recent report by his commission said Cuba has
208 political prisoners.

"NEW POLITICAL REALITY"

A Spanish diplomat in Havana said the prisoner release was the product
of what Moratinos called the "new political reality" between Spain and
its former colony.

"It's our position that this is the result of a policy of dialogue
followed by Spain on a basis of respect," the diplomat, who asked not
to be named, said.

Moratinos had faced criticism at home in Spain for not meeting with
dissidents during his visit to Cuba.

Spain, which is tied with Canada as the island's third-biggest trading
partner, is set to take over the revolving presidency of the European
Union in January.

Moratinos said that during its six-month EU presidency term Spain
hoped to eliminate a 1996 EU resolution that predicated dialogue with
Cuba on its transition to a multi-party democracy, which has irritated
the one-party Cuban state.

The EU imposed diplomatic sanctions on Cuba after the 2003 government
crackdown in which 75 dissidents, including Aguiar, were imprisoned.

But at the urging of Spain and others, the EU lifted the sanctions and
re-established cooperation with Cuba last year.

Sanchez said the Cuban authorities also had given permission to
another former prisoner, Omelio Lazaro Angulo, to leave the country.

Cuba has released prisoners before as a result of meetings with
foreign officials, including one such case in 1996 when three were
freed after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, then a U.S.
congressman, met with Fidel Castro.

(Editing by Jeff Franks and Pascal Fletcher)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved


Cuba frees 1 man, paroles another

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20091021_In_the_World.html

HAVANA - Cuba has freed one of the 54 political prisoners still behind
bars after a state crackdown on dissent six years ago, and also
paroled a Spanish businessman awaiting trial for bribery, officials
said yesterday.

The moves appear to be gestures of goodwill on the heels of a visit by
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, though one dissident
said officials used the men as bargaining chips.

Nelson Alberto Aguiar Ramirez had been sentenced in 2003 to 13 years
in prison for treason, but he was released early yesterday, said his
wife, Laura Pollan.