11 More Cuban Political Prisoners Leave for Spain

Church Continues Dialogue With Government

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HAVANA, Cuba, MARCH 24, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The archbishopric of Havana has announced the names of 11 more Cuban prisoners who will soon be released to travel to Spain.

Orlando Márquez Hidalgo, spokesman of the archbishopric, signed the note Tuesday that explained that an additional 11 prisoners will be released shortly in continuity with the process of liberation of prisoners begun as a result of an ongoing dialogue among representatives of the Church, Cuba and Spain.

The names of the prisoners are: Juan Carlos Vázquez García, Bodanis Zulueta Ramos, José Antonio Sardiñas Martín, Antonio García Reyes, Arnaldo Márquez Gil, Eduardo Díaz Castellanos, Erick Caballero Martínez, Alberto Santiago Dobouchet Hernández, José Manuel de la Rosa Pérez, Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina and Roberto López Rodríguez.

Hence there are now a total of 114 prisoners who accepted the proposal to go to Spain upon being released from prison.

Meanwhile, Alfredo Felipe Fuentes, one of the Cuban political prisoners who was released earlier, will be taking part in the 4th Celebration of Liberty of Expression, which will be held on March 31 in Almeria, Spain, along with his wife, Loyda Valdés, one of the founders of the Ladies in White.

For the fourth time, the staff of the School of Art of Almeria will host the Celebration of the Liberty of Expression in support of imprisoned journalists. The celebration is being organized by the school along with the Association of Journalists of Almeria, and the Albaia secondary school institute.

More than 1,000 art students as well as journalists and numerous representatives of Almeria’s society will take part in this event.

There will be a ceremony in tribute to imprisoned journalists, with the participation of Fuentes, who spent seven years in prison in his country, and his wife. They will both talk about their struggle for freedom, highlighting the importance of liberty in democracies.

Students from the School of Art will read the manifesto of Almeria written by María Dolores Masana, president of the Spanish chapter of Reporters Without Borders. They will also read an article of released Cuban journalist Miguel Galbán, sponsored in 2010 by this association.

The association will also present its new sponsorship project of Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu, a woman journalist of Eritrea, who has been in prison in her country since February 2009.

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