Prisoner No More

Francisco Chaviano González Was, in 1994, documenting the deaths of people trying to flee from the communist worker's paradise of Cuba. The authorities harassed him relentlessly; sending thugs to beat him in an effort to silence him. Finally, he was arrested by Fidel Castro's goons and tried in a secret military court. Convicted of "revealing state secrets" after a government setup, he was sent to prison for 15 years by the benevolent Castro regime.

He has served the longest amount of time as a prisoner of conscience in the Western hemisphere according to Amnesty International.

Today, two years short of completing his sentence, the Cuban Government finally freed him.

Francisco Chaviano, now 54, was released on parole after serving 13 years, three months and three days, said Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

"He was among the longest-held prisoners of conscience in the world," Sanchez wrote in a statement.

Chaviano was president of the Cuban National Council for Civil Rights when he was arrested in May 1994. He was sentenced behind closed doors by a military court about a year later for allegedly revealing state secrets while documenting the cases of rafters who disappeared or died trying to leave Cuba. Chaviano denied revealing state secrets, and his supporters said no defense evidence was presented during the trial.

As Chaviano's release was being announced, a group of other top dissidents told international journalists at the Havana residence of U.S. Interests Section head Michael Parmly that repression continues for critics of the communist government, even though the number of political prisoners has dipped in recent years.

There has been a slight drop in the number of people held in Cuban prisons in the past year for disagreeing with the government. But the levels of harassment have not changed. Dissidents are still treated mercilessly by the government. But who in San Francisco will do an interpretive dance to praise the release of Francisco Chaviano González?

Remember Francisco Chaviano González when you hear the hysterical pronouncements of the left about America, won't you?