• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 02 / 21 / 2011

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(RTTNews) - Cuba's government has released seven more political dissidents from prison in line with a an agreement reached with the country's Catholic Church last year, church officials said Sunday.

Among the seven dissidents released was Ivan Hernandez, a journalist who had earlier refused to go into exile in Spain as a condition for his release. It is not yet clear if the Cuban government has permitted him to remain in the country, as it had done earlier this month in the case of another released dissident, Angel Moya.

The six others released Sunday were identified as Roger Cardoso, Yoan Jose Navalon, Yosnel Batista, Juan Antonio Bermudez, Marco Antonio Zayas and Reinier Concepcion. All of them are said to have accepted exile in Spain as a condition for their release.

The seven were among a list of 52 dissidents the Cuban government agreed to free last July under a deal brokered by the Catholic Church. Cuba has now released almost all of the 52 imprisoned dissidents in the list, and most of them have since emigrated to Spain with their families.

The decision to release the 52 detained dissidents was announced two months after Cuban President Raul Castro's meeting with leaders of the Catholic Church in the capital city of Havana. That meeting marked the first time in five years that the head of the Conference of Bishops met with a Cuban President.

Relations between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church were strained for decades following the revolution that overthrew dictator Fulgencia Batista in 1959 and the establishment of a communist regime in the country.

Nevertheless, relations improved in the early 1990s after references to atheism was removed from the constitution and believers of all faiths were allowed to join the Communist Party. Relations warmed further with the historic Cuban visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998.

The Catholic Church had recently mediated an agreement between the Cuban authorities and a group of female relatives of imprisoned dissidents, known as the Ladies in White. The negotiation led to the Cuban government agreeing to let the group resume their peaceful Sunday marches in Havana in exchange for assurances the women would not expand their activities.

To date, Cuba under Fidel and Raul, has survived more than four decades of U.S. sanctions. Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother Raul in February 2008, following an emergency stomach surgery in July 2006, and has made very few public appearances since then.

In 2009, US President Barack Obama lifted some of the travel restrictions imposed on Cuban Americans, allowing them to visit relatives and send money home.

Obama, however, retained the 47-year old U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

Source: http://news.ino.com/headlines/