Empty Accolades for Cuba On Release of Prisoners
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Cole Porter would call it “another op’nin’ of another show,” but for the Cuban government it is the convenient unlocking of seven political prisoners, perfectly choreographed and synchronized to elicit European ovations.
After 20 unwarranted months in a Cuban cell, journalist Jorge Olivera was released on Monday, joining six other political prisoners who have been released in the last 10 days, among them three other journalists: Edel Jose Garcia, Raul Rivero, and Osvaldo Alonso Valdes. Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Marcelo Lopez, and Margarito Broche are dissidents. They are part of the so-called “Group of 75” dissidents and journalists arrested in March 2003 who received jail sentences ranging from six-to-28 years, sentences that should have never happened, for the all-encompassing crime of “treason to the homeland,” the illegal possession of souls – the title of a Rivero short story.
The crackdown produced an international outcry, especially on behalf of Mr. Rivero, arguably the most important Cuban poet today. Worldwide criticism put pressure on the Cuban government and the regime reluctantly released the prisoners due to “health reasons,” although they were granted only parole, which could be revoked at any moment. “I don’t consider myself totally free, I was warned that if I re-offend I go back to jail,” a brave-sounding Mr. Espinosa Chepe, an economist and journalist sentenced to 20 years, told a Spanish newspaper. Mr. Espinosa Chepe, just like any other Cuban, lives in a society of walking parolees, ready to be picked up at any moment for simply disagreeing with the government.
Mr. Olivera, an independent journalist sentenced to 18 years, was the head of Havana Press; Mr. Garcia was sentenced to 15 years and was the founder of the North Central Press Agency. Mr. Alfonso Valdes, also a writer and president of the Liberal Democratic Party, was sentenced to 18 years; he tried to commit suicide in jail. Mr. Lopez, was a member of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation and was received a 15-year sentence. Mr. Broche was president of the National association of Rafters, Peace, and Democracy; he was sentenced to 25 years.
The author of 10 volumes of poetry, Mr. Rivero broke away from Prensa Latina, the official government press, in the late 1980s frustrated by the lack of freedom of expression. In 1994, with a group of like-minded reporters, he became an independent journalist, founding Cuba Press. Cuba Press is an independent news agency that sells its news only to overseas markets. Since its founding, Mr. Rivero has been arrested several times and his home has become the object of innumerable searches and seizures. But the last raid came with a 20-year prison term.
Human Rights organizations, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and even former admirers of the Castrist pantomime, such as Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, publicly decried the harshness of the crackdown. Mr. Rivero was honored with the 2003 Unesco World Press Freedom Prize and the 2003 Pen Club USA’s Freedom to Write Award. He has always stated that nobody can make him feel like a criminal, an enemy target, or someone who does not love his country, stating, “I am merely a man who writes.” Many Cuban writers are forced into exile after being released from prison. We would not be surprised to see Mr. Rivero take this route.
The move by the Cuban government is the overture about to begin. It is seen as a false sign of flexibility on behalf of the European Union, which, under pressure from Spain’s new socialist government, is currently studying the Cuban case yet again. In June of 2003, responding to the jailing of the 75, the European Union imposed political sanctions against Cuba. Only Spain, Belgium, Portugal, and Greece maintain normal relations with the island.
The release of these political prisoners comes on the heels of a recent meeting between Felipe Perez Roque, Cuban minister of foreign affairs and Carlos Alonso Zaldivar, the Spanish ambassador. However, France has already reacted to this move and it’s not being wooed, stating that Cuba still has a long way to go in improving its human rights conditions before the E.U. votes on the 2003 sanctions. More prisoners have been taken to Havana hospitals for medical evaluations, which means that more “medical” releases are expected. It’s curtain time and away we go!
The release of these seven men is certainly a joyous occasion, but it is only a partial celebration. Let’s not lose sight of the script, the one behind yet another op’nin’ of another show: Some Cubans are released, and then some more are jailed. The same Tuesday that Mr. Rivero was released Ada Kaly Marquez, coordinator of the 30th of November Democratic Party, was arrested. But all Cubans have been held captive without valid elections, for the last 551 months.
Ms. Conde is a freelance journalist and author.