Havana, Cuba, Jul 15, 2010 / 19:56 pm
The coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Paya, slammed the Cuban government this week for not respecting the rights of the recently-freed political prisoners and sending them into exile. He vowed the fight to free Cuba would continue forward.
The first group of 11 prisoners were released this week and immediately flown to Spain. The remaining 41 political prisoners will be freed in the next three months.
“The dignity, rights and even feelings of those who have been freed are not being respected,” Paya said. “They and those who remain imprisoned carry the torch of heroes. We thank them and we say to them: we shall continue together to fight for the freedom and rights of Cubans,” he said in a message.
“Some wish to portray this action by the government as change in Cuba (I wish it were change),” Paya continued. He noted that if the Spanish government and Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs “are saying this is the beginning of the changes, Cubans aren’t aware of it, and it seems the Cuban government isn’t either.”