Havana has freed 553 inmates under Vatican-mediated deal, despite Trump’s reversal on US sanctions relief.
Cuba has released 553 prisoners under a Vatican-mediated agreement, despite the collapse of a United States pledge to ease sanctions in return.
The island nation’s highest judicial authority announced late on Monday that the last of the prisoners had been freed, Cuba’s state-run media reported.
Havana said in January that with the mediation of the Catholic Church, it had agreed with the Biden administration to release “political prisoners” in return for being removed from the US terrorism blacklist.
However, on taking office, President Donald Trump reversed the decision, reinstating sanctions and temporarily halting the process.
“Authorities of the Supreme People’s Court of Cuba affirm that these 553 people are already free and that the process has concluded,” the media report said.
‘Political prisoners’
The Biden administration had initially framed the agreement around the release of “political prisoners”, but Cuban officials described the freed individuals as “553 people sanctioned for diverse crimes”.
Rights groups had noted a gradual release of detainees over the past week, though noted that some appeared to be common criminals.
The release comes amid longstanding international pressure from the US, the European Union, the Catholic Church, and human rights organisations for Cuba to free hundreds of protesters arrested during antigovernment demonstrations on July 11, 2021.
The protests were the largest since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, prompted by widespread discontent over economic hardship, food shortages, and the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The crowds called for political change and greater freedoms. Cuban authorities maintain that those jailed were involved in crimes such as arson, vandalism, and sedition.
Watchdog groups estimate that about 200 protest-related detainees were released last week, although limited information has made verification difficult.
The state media report did not clarify how many of the 553 prisoners freed under the Vatican-brokered deal were linked to the 2021 protests.
