Cuba will release 51 prisoners in the coming days as a demonstration of “goodwill” following talks with the Vatican, Havana’s government has said.
It did not specify whether they included political prisoners, but it said they had all “served a significant portion of their sentences and have maintained good conduct while in prison”.
The release comes as Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that US and Cuban officials were holding talks to find solutions to the two countries’ differences. He said no fuel had entered Cuba in three months.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Cuba was in “deep trouble” as he threatened a “friendly takeover” of the Caribbean country.
Cuba is experiencing several blackouts as the island struggles with fuel shortages, which have been made worse by pressure from the US.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has made clear his desire to change Cuba’s leadership. He has also threatened tariffs on goods imported into the US from any country that gives Cuba oil.
Havana relies heavily on imported fuel for its electricity and the US has seized a number of oil shipments bound for Cuba.
Venezuela was believed to have sent around 35,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba, providing about half the island’s oil needs. But Washington’s Venezuela raid – and capture of President Nicolás Maduro – in early January has disrupted the arrangement.
In a national broadcast on Friday, Díaz-Canel said that not having fuel enter Cuba for the past three months has led to the gradual decline of diesel and fuel oil reserves. Given this, the country’s electrical grid has become increasingly “unstable”, he said.
To mitigate the impact Cuba had increased production of domestic crude and gas, as well as solar generation.
The US and Cuba have had strained relations since communist leader Fidel Castro overthrew a US-backed government in 1959. US sanctions and trade embargoes on Cuba have been in place since the early 1960s.
Talks between the two nations were in their initial stages, Díaz-Canel, who is leading the Cuban side of negotiations, said.
The Cuban president said the talks were taking place “on the basis of equality and respect for the political systems of both states, and for the sovereignty and self-determination of our governments”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, is involved in the talks, President Trump has said.
Speaking in February, Rubio said Cuba needed to change.
“It needs to change dramatically because it is the only chance that it has to improve the quality of life for its people,” he told reporters on 25 February.
The island nation is just 90 miles (145 km) south of Florida. Given the proximity, many Cubans who do not identify with Havana’s politics emigrate to the US, which is one of the reasons why Miami has such a large Cuban-American demographic.
Detailing the forthcoming prisoner release, Cuba’s foreign ministry said that since 2010 Havana has pardoned 9,905 prisoners.
Over the last three years, the ministry added, another 10,000 people who had been imprisoned were released “through various other forms of relief”. The government said the decision was “sovereign” and in line with the upcoming Holy Week in the Christian calendar.
News of the release comes weeks after Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez met Pope Leo in the Vatican.
By BBC News
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
