US Congress and Blinken call on Havana to release political prisoners
Jul 13, 2023
Miami [US], July 13: US Congress and the United States' top American diplomat called on the Cuban government on Tuesday to release all political prisoners, many of whom were arrested for joining pro-democracy protests two years ago.
To mark the second anniversary of protests that spread through the island on July 11, 2021, the chairmen of the Senate and House committees dealing with foreign affairs, Senator Bob Menendez (Democrat, New Jersey) and US Republican Michael McCaul (Texas), introduced a bipartisan resolution "condemning the ongoing acts of repression and human rights violations against the Cuban people by the Cuban regime, and calling for the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained Cuban citizens."
More than 700 people, including minors, remain imprisoned for joining the demonstrations that day and the following in several Cuban cities. Some were punished with decades-long sentences under charges of sedition. The Madrid-based nongovernmental organisation Prisoners Defenders estimates there are at least 1,048 political prisoners in Cuba. In a statement Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken also urged Cuban authorities to immediately release the "unjustly detained political prisoners".
Source: Qatar Tribune
