Havana has freed all 53 prisoners agreed to under a deal reached by President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro, the Cuban government told Washington over the weekend and U.S. diplomats verified, a U.S. government official tells The Associated Press and Reuters. Cuba following through on its promise should help bring to fruition the historic thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations agreed to by Obama and Castro.
Neither Cuba nor the Obama administration has released the names of the 53 political prisoners, but the U.S. official says the White House will release the names to Congress, with the expectation that Congress will release the names to the public. The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, a dissident group, says it knows of only 39 people freed since the U.S.-Cuba deal was announced on Dec. 17.
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