HAVANA, Cuba (AP):
A LEADING Cuban rights group said yesterday the number of prisoners of conscience on the island had grown by nearly 10 per cent over the past six months, reflecting a continued erosion of civil and political guarantees.
The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation said the net number of documented political prisoners in the country was 333, up from 306 as of June 30. The number takes into account both releases and arrests over six months.
"This net increase in the number of people subjected to sentences for political reasons reflects the sustained worsening of the situation for civil, political and economic rights in Cuba, especially during 2005," the commission said in the report signed by rights activists Elizardo Sanchez and Carlos J. Menendez.
The Havana-based non-governmental commission, which Sanchez heads, releases the report on political prisoners every six months.
Information about the individual cases is confirmed through the inmates' families. But commission members admit that there are likely other political prisoners they don't know about because of a lack of public information in this communist country.
The list includes most of the 75 dissidents arrested in a roundup on the opposition in March 2003, even though 15 of those have since been freed on parole.
Two of those freed, journalists Raul Rivero and Manuel Vazquez Portal, have left Cuba since their release on parole and their names have been removed from the list.
But the commission has retained 12 of the 15 on the list, saying they could be returned to custody if they violate parole.
The 75 activists were arrested on charges of being mercenaries working with the U.S. government to undermine President Fidel Castro's government, something the dissidents and American officials deny. Sentences ranged from six to 28 years.
Cuba says it holds no prisoners of conscience, only common criminals. It insists it respects human rights more than most countries by providing broad social services to its people, including free health care and education.
Among those on the commission's list are two Central American men who were found guilty of terrorism for placing explosive devices in public places. One explosion, at a Havana hotel, killed a young Italian tourist.
The men received the death penalty but the sentences have not been carried out.
