Cuba Prisoners Moved Closer to Home
From Reuters
The Cuban government began moving political prisoners to jails closer to their homes on Tuesday in a modest humanitarian gesture promised in recent talks with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, human rights advocates and church officials said. Family members said they hoped the transfers were a first step toward freedom for some of the island’s 190 imprisoned dissidents. At least six men, who were among 75 government opponents jailed in a 2003 crackdown, were being transferred to prisons nearer their families in various Cuban cities, the Catholic Church said in a statement. It was not known how many prisoners would be moved, but Elizardo Sanchez of the independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights said as many as 17 have been in jails far from home.
