HAVANA (AP) — A top national security adviser to President Obama says he’s shared with Cuban authorities many lists of political prisoners over the last two-and-a-half years.
Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, says the U.S. regularly raises cases of specific political prisoners and that many of the cases have been resolved. But he says Cuba insists that they don’t consider them political prisoners. He says the Cuban authorities reply that the prisoners are being held for different crimes.
Rhodes comments come after Cuban President Raul Castro said during a press conference that if he were brought a list of political prisoners, “they will be released before tonight ends.”
Rhodes is speaking at a press briefing with reporters in Cuba.
In a recent report Amnesty International did not name any current prisoners of conscience in Cuba.
