Cuba releases first prisoners following agreement

Cuba has begun releasing the first batch of hundreds of prisoners it agreed to release after an agreement with the United States.

Under the agreement brokered by the Catholic Church, President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism just days before the end of his term.

In return, the Cuban government said it would release 553 people, many of whom were arrested during anti-government protests that swept the communist-run island in 2021.

While Havana cautiously welcomed the agreement, there are doubts about how long it will last after Marco Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, appeared to hint at the possibility of rescinding it.

Speaking during his Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday, Rubio, referring to some of the sanctions on Cuba that the Biden administration rescinded on Tuesday, said that “the new administration is not bound by this decision.”

Earlier, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Fox News: “Anything they do… [the Biden administration] “What we are doing now, we can respond to, and no one should be under any illusion regarding changing the policy towards Cuba.”

Despite doubts raised by Trump administration officials, Cuba released about 20 prisoners on Wednesday, according to local NGOs.

Among those released was 53-year-old Doneda Pérez Passero, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for her participation in anti-government protests in 2021, during which citizens demanded that the Cuban government do more to alleviate widespread food shortages and bring down spiraling prices.

In a video she posted on social media, Ms. Pérez Passero said the Cuban government used her and her fellow prisoners as a “bargaining chip” to benefit from Cuba’s removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

She also said in the recording that she would continue to “fight for Cuba’s freedom.”

Darrell Cruz Garcia was also among those released Wednesday.

The 23-year-old was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sedition after joining the 2021 protests.

He told Reuters that officials announced that he could serve the remainder of his sentence – which had been commuted since he was originally sentenced – at home.

“I escaped hell to be with my family. I will behave myself so I can move forward,” he told the news agency.

The vice president of Cuba’s Supreme Court, Marisela Sosa, said on television that those released had not received a pardon and had not been pardoned, and warned that they could be re-arrested if they violate the terms of their parole.

There are also still hundreds of families waiting for news on whether their loved ones will be among the 553 people the government has agreed to release.

“They are desperate, and they are all waiting very anxiously for a call from their children,” Daryl Cruz Garcia’s mother told Reuters.