Pardoned, Not Paroled (Part I)

Renato Pérez Pizarro at Miami Herald's Cuban Colada Blog summarizes an interesting AP article by Paul Haven on the looming November 7 deadline for the final 13 of the promised 52 Cuban prisoner releases. 

These final 13, however, refuse to be deported upon release.  Pérez Pizarro, says, "They refuse to leave prison unless they are freed without any conditions – pardoned, not paroled." 

The article also says that hunger striker and recent winner of Europe's Sakharov human rights prize Guillermo Farinas will stop eating again on Nov. 8 if the remaining dissidents are not in their homes by that date. 

Leading dissident Elizardo Sanchez argued that Cuba's leaders have nothing to gain - and everything to lose - by keeping the last 13 prisoners in jail.  "By releasing them, the government improves its international image and removes a weight off its back. If it does not, it will gain only the world's condemnation," Sanchez said. "Not freeing them would be unthinkable."