Ramon Castro- Reuters Photos

CHATHAM, New Jersey (AP):

Two Cuban-American opponents to Fidel Castro's rule hope a database they are compiling will provide an accurate record of how many have been killed under the regime, according to a media report.

Maria Werlau, 46, a former banker, and Armando Lago, 66, an economist in Coral Gables, Florida, say their eight-year-old Cuba Archive project has already compiled 9,000 reports of people killed during Castro's 47 years running Cuba, The Star-Ledger reported.

The reports, many of which they told the newspaper have been confirmed, involve more than 5,000 killed by firing squad, mostly in the immediate years following Castro's rise to power in 1959. Werlau and Lago say roughly 2,000 others died in prison, some executed, some perishing in accidents never explained.

On top of that, there's an estimated 77,000 people who have died trying to flee Cuba, according to Castro critics.

Werlau and Lago also hope to include the roughly 3,000 people who died in the violence before the 1959 revolution, including those killed by the forces of dictator Fulgencio Batista.

"There's no political message in this," Lago, who has done much of the Cuba Archive research while recovering from a pair of strokes, told the Newark newspaper.

"I'm simply counting the dead," he said.

Both Werlau and Lago describe injuries they suffered themselves from Castro's regime.

Meanwhile, Ramon Castro, Fidel's big brother, on Saturday said his more famous sibling is steadily improving after surgery.

"He's much better. He works savagely and that has a cost," said the 82-year-old lifelong farmer who has stayed out of national politics.