Four Cuban Political Prisoners Will Be Released To The United States

Four Cuban Political Prisoners Will Be Released To The United States /
14ymedio
Posted on March 16, 2016

14ymedio, Havana, 15 March 2016 – Four Cuban political prisoners
will leave this week for the United States, a decision that the Cuban
government has taken a few days before President Barack Obama’s arrival
on the island. The departure of the opponents is the result of efforts
undertaken by the Catholic Church, as reported to 14ymedio by relatives
of the inmates.

Opponents Vladimir Morera Bacallao, Jorge Ramírez Calderón, Niorvis
Rivera Guerra and Aracelio Riveaux Noa were transferred last week to the
hospital of the Combinado del Este Prison in Havana, from where they
will depart on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

Librado Linares, leader of the Cuban Reflection Movement, told this
newspaper that he had been able to speak by telephone with them to
confirm the news. “They told me that are flying to the United States but
without their families”, said the former prisoner of the Black
Spring. According to the opposition, the authorities promised that their
families “may leave, but later.”

In the eastern part of the country, activist Lisandra Robert, a member
of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) with responsibility for ​​
political prisoners, confirmed that “the relatives of Aracelio Riveaux
Noa and Niorvis Rivera Guerra were visited by someone who identified
himself as a member of the Catholic Church, accompanied by an official
of the Interior Ministry.”

During the visit, the two men explained to the relatives of the
prisoners that “an agreement” had been reached to release the prisoners
to the United States. The condition for the families to be able to
accompany them [later] was that they depart “immediately” for Havana,
and from there fly to the US.

Robert explained that Aracelio Riveaux Noa included “in the list to
travel” several family members but only his mother and three nephews
were accepted. In the case of Niorvis Rivera Guerra, his wife and
children will also emigrate.

These four political prisoners were among a group of 53 inmates who were
released in January 2015, after negotiations between the governments of
Cuba and the United States became public. Later, they were again
returned to prison and convicted for their activism in the streets.

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States / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba –
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