MIAMI, Florida:

The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) has re-newed its public call on the Cuban government to release all imprisoned independent journalists after learning that two reporters behind bars since 2003 had been freed.

According to the online edition of the Spanish newspaper El Pa's, Cuban authorities last week released seven Cuban dissidents because of their failing health, among them, independent journalists Alejandro Gonzalez Raga and Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo who were flown to Spain to undergo medical treatment. Gonzalez Raga had been sentenced to 14 years in prison and Ramon Castillo to 20 years.

Chairman of the IAPA's committee on freedom of the press and information, and editor of the Guate-malan newspaper Prensa Libre, Gonzalo Marroquin, welcomed the move, but added, "Another 25 independent journalists are still serving unjust prison sentences, many of them suffering from ill health. We call for the unconditional release of all imprisoned journalists."

Gonzalez Raga, of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL in its Spanish-language acronym), and Ramon Castillo, of the Culture and Democracy Independent Institute, were arrested in March 2003 follow-ing a violent wave of repression that resulted in the imprisonment of 75 alleged dissidents.

Journalists who remain behind bars for working as independent reporters are:

Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso	Victor Rolando Arroyo
Normando Hernandez Gonzalez	Julio Cesar Galvez
Adolfo Fernandez Sainz	Omar Rodriguez Saludes
Hector Maseda Gutierrez	Mijail Barzaga Lugo
Pedro ArgŸelles Moran	Pablo Pacheco çvila
Alfredo Pulido Lopez	Fabio Prieto Llorente
Ivan Hernandez Carrillo	Jose Luis Garcia Paneque,
Juan Carlos Herrera	Miguel Galvan Gutierrez
Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo	Omar Ruiz Hernandez
Lester Luis Gonzalez Penton	Alfredo Felipe Fuentes
Alberto Gil Triay	Guillermo Espinosa Rodriguez
Raymundo Perdigon Brito	Ramon Velazquez

Toranso and Oscar Sanchez Madan