A well-known Cuban dissident imprisoned in a government crackdown on the political opposition in 2003 has been unexpectedly released, BBC Online reports Wednesday.
Hector Palacios, 65, was sentenced to 25 years in jail as part of a group of 75 dissidents charged with conspiracy. Mr Palacios, a sociologist and outspoken critic of Fidel Castro’s communist government, said he had been released because of heart problems.
He said he felt physically “destroyed” but “morally strong”. – I was in jail for almost four years that felt like 10. It was extremely unjust, he said from his Havana home.
Mr Palacios said that as many as 20 dissidents were dying in Cuban prisons and a further 300 were surviving in what he called very difficult conditions.
Many of the imprisoned dissidents were involved in a petition called the Varela Project, which called for a referendum on democratic reforms in Cuba, BBC adds.
