Tuesday, September 15, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
RIGHTS-CUBA: Castro Grants 300 Pardons in Gesture towards Pope
Dalia Acosta
- Some 300 prisoners will be released in Cuba in a “special gesture” by the government of Fidel Castro towards Pope John Paul II, rather than a sign of political opening, government officials underlined Thursday.
Cuban Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez told the press that the decision to release the prisoners came in response to the request for clemency put forth by the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, during the Pontiff’s January visit to Cuba.
“Cardinal Sodano provided the Cuban government with a list of people in prison, requesting clemency. The list was carefully studied,” Gonzalez told reporters in his habitual Thursday news conference.
Gonzalez did not specify the number of names on Sodano’s list, nor whether it included only political prisoners. But he said 106 inmates had already been released.
“Several dozen others will be released in the near future, through a pardon which has been granted and is being processed in accordance with Cuban law,” he added.
In an additional gesture, the government has decided to pardon more than 200 prisoners whose release is being justified on humanitarian grounds and for motives of age or poor health.
That decision responded to the Vatican’s request for clemency for people not included on the list, independently of whether they had been sentenced for political or common crimes.
The official announcement followed press reports issued Wednesday evening, according to which seven political prisoners had already been freed in response to the Pope’s request.
Gonzalez said the seven people mentioned were not included on the list and that “the rumours spread yesterday were totally false.”
On previous occasions Castro has responded favourably to similar petitions presented by political and religious personalities such as the United States’ Jesse Jackson or France’s Danielle Miterrand.
Sodano delivered the request for clemency to Vice-President Carlos Lage on Jan. 22, while the Pontiff was meeting privately with Castro.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls announced at the time that the Cuban government had respectfully received the request, but he did not provide details on the number of people included on the list.
On Jan. 24 the Miami daily ‘The New Herald’ reported that according to the human rights watchdog organisation Amnesty International, the list of political prisoners contained 34 names.
The foreign ministry’s announcement followed the government’s reaffirmation that there would be no political opening along the lines demanded by the United States.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina called Washington “intolerant,” and said the United States had once more demonstrated its “inability to tolerate political, economic and social models” that provided an alternative to the one it wanted “to impose on the rest of the world.”
Robaina’s remarks followed statements by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who told the U.S. Senate Tuesday that the administration of Bill Clinton would ignore events in Cuba until the current political and constitutional order was overthrown.
“When you hear a person with responsibility say there are no elections in Cuba, just because the elections are not to their taste or they do not sympathise with the elected individuals, you conclude that the person is at the very least misinformed, or that it is an alarming case of political illiteracy,” said Robaina.
Referring to Albright’s promise that she would not rest until political change in the island acceptable to the United States was achieved, Robaina commented that “Albright will not be able to rest for the rest of her life.”
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RIGHTS-CUBA: Castro Grants 300 Pardons in Gesture towards Pope
Dalia Acosta
- Some 300 prisoners will be released in Cuba in a “special gesture” by the government of Fidel Castro towards Pope John Paul II, rather than a sign of political opening, government officials underlined Thursday.
(more…)
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