Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuba will soon release three more political prisoners, bringing to 39 the number of jailed dissidents the Communist government has set free since this summer, the Roman Catholic Church said Monday.
The Cuban government has agreed to release 52 political prisoners by year's end on the condition they go to Spain, which has agreed to take them. International pressure to free them grew when one prisoner died earlier this year after an 84-day hunger strike.
The latest prisoners to be released were identified as Horacio Julio Pina Borrego, Fidel Suarez Cruz and Alfredo Felipe Fuentes.
They are part of the biggest release of political prisoners in more than a decade. The Spanish government and the Catholic Church brokered the deal with Cuban President Raul Castro in July.
The released dissidents represent roughly one-third of known political prisoners in Cuba. All 52 were sentenced in 2003 as part of a crackdown on government opponents.
CNN
