Havana [Cuba], April 5: Cuba's government said it pardoned 2,010 prisoners as a "humanitarian" gesture.
The release during the Easter Holy Week follows pledges made in March to free prisoners as the United States increases pressure on Cuba's leadership.
The announcement, first reported by state media, is the second prisoner release this year during talks with the administration of US President Donald Trump. It is also one of the largest such releases in nearly a decade. The decision "stemmed from a careful analysis of the crimes committed by those convicted, their good conduct in prison, the fact that they had served a significant portion of their sentence and their state of health", Cuba's state-run Granma newspaper said.
The Trump administration, however, has indicated it would be scrutinising the release closely for evidence that political prisoners were among the freed.
"It is unclear how many, if any, political prisoners will be released," a Trump spokesperson told the news agency Reuters. "We continue to call for the immediate release of the hundreds of other brave Cuban patriots who remain unjustly detained." The Cuban government has consistently rejected any suggestion that it makes decisions under US pressure. It has also denied holding political prisoners.
But the timing of Friday's announcement coincides with the most intense pressure campaign applied by Washington in decades.
Since January, the Trump administration has largely blocked the import of oil to Cuba, first by severing trade with Venezuela and later by threatening tariffs against its trading partners.
The result has been an energy crisis that has caused flights to be suspended, public transportation to be halted, and essential services to come to a standstill, including hospital care. Two island-wide blackouts have gripped the island in the last month alone.
The Trump administration has called for a change of government in communist-run Cuba, and the US president has openly mused about "taking" the island.
Source: Qatar Tribune
