• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 11 / 08 / 2010

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By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Paul Haven, Associated Press – Mon Nov 8, 12:06 am ET. HAVANA – The deadline passed at midnight without any word on the men's fate, President Castro agreed following a meeting with Roman Catholic Cardinal Jamie Ortega to release 52 prisoners of conscience held since a 2003 crackdown on peaceful dissent. The July 7 deal called for all the prisoners to be free in three to four months, a period that ended at midnight Sunday.

A prominent church official expressed surprise at the lack of progress.

"It is not what we thought would happen," Father Jose Felix Perez, who coordinates Cuba's Catholic Bishops Conference, said Sunday as it became increasingly clear no releases were imminent. Felix Perez made the comments after celebrating Mass for the Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in White, the dissident group made up of family members of the 2003 prisoners.

Cuban officials have declined to comment on the deadline.

At first, the government moved swiftly to make good on the deal, sending 39 prisoners into exile in Spain, along with their families. Authorities even agreed to release another 14 prisoners who were in jail for violent — but politically motivated — crimes. They too were sent to Spain, though the agreement struck with the Church made no mention of exile being a condition for release.

But progress has ground to a halt recently.

Havana says U.S. criticism of its behavior is hypocritical, since Washington does not have a perfect human rights record either. Cuban officials note that the American government is friendly with many regimes accused of torture and other grave abuses, and counts dictators and strongmen among its friends.

Cuba considers all the dissidents to be common criminals and says they receive money from Washington for the express purpose of bringing down the island's socialist system.

Officials say Farinas' legal problems include violent behavior toward a co-worker and note that he has lived through some two dozen hunger strikes only because of the medical attention given to him by government doctors.

Source: Associated Press