Cuba frees another jailed dissident

HAVANA -- The Cuban government freed another jailed opponent yesterday, the sixth dissident released this week in a move widely seen as an attempt to repair relations with the European Union.

Edel Garcia, a 59-year-old independent journalist, was released on medical grounds although he remains on parole. He was suffering from claustrophobia and declining eyesight because of glaucoma.

Garcia was one of 75 prodemocracy activists, independent journalists, and opposition figures arrested in March 2003 in the worst crackdown in decades in Cuba.

He thanked European nations for pressing for the release and better treatment of political prisoners by President Fidel Castro's communist government.

''There's a change in the government's treatment of us, and this is positive," Garcia, who was serving a 15-year sentence, said at his Havana home.

His hands shook as he spoke of claustrophobia in a solitary confinement cell where he spent 11 months before being moved to a prison hospital.

The Cuban government released five dissidents Monday and Tuesday, including its best-known jailed critic, the poet and journalist Raul Rivero.

So far this year, 13 of the 75 dissidents jailed last year have been freed on medical grounds.

They were sentenced in one-day trials in April 2003 to prison terms of up to 28 years for conspiring with the United States to undermine Castro's government, a charge they deny.

Veteran activist Elizardo Sanchez, head of the illegal but tolerated Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said Garcia's release had been expected due to his poor health.

He said the Cuban government wanted to avoid having a death on its hands and had done medical tests on dozens of jailed dissidents, though the majority have been returned to prison.

Among those that could be freed in coming days are Hector Palacios, 63, a sociologist who was actively involved in gathering signatures for the Varela Project, a petition for a referendum on civil liberties.

The Cuban government has not commented on the releases.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed Garcia's release, but called on Cuban authorities to free 24 independent reporters who remain behind bars in Cuba.

Sanchez said the release of a small group of dissidents was aimed at improving diplomatic ties with the 25-nation European Union, which is considering ending measures adopted last year in response to the crackdown and the execution of three men who hijacked a ferry to try to escape to the United States.

EU policy makers will meet Dec. 14 in Brussels to consider whether to stop inviting Cuban dissidents to National Day receptions in Havana and restore high-level visits to Cuba by European officials in an effort to end a diplomatic freeze.

The measures angered the Cuban government, which froze all contacts with European diplomats in Havana last year.

Spain's new Socialist government has spearheaded an effort to mend ties with Havana, arguing that engaging Cuba in political dialogue will do more to improve human rights than sanctions.

The releases will give Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain more leverage to change EU policy, European diplomats said.

Restoring access to the Cuban government is needed to prepare for a transition once Castro is gone, they said. The Cuban leader, 78, has been in power since 1959.