Raul Castro: ‘What Political Prisoners?’

castro

Monday at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana, Cuba at a joint news conference with President Barack Obama, Cuban President Raúl Castro said he didn’t know of any current political prisoners in Cuba when asked by CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta.

Partial transcript as follows:

CASTRO (as interpreted): “He was asking if he was — if question was directed to me or to President Obama. You talked about — no — you talked about political prisoners.”

OBAMA: “And Trump and Hillary.”

CASTRO (as interpreted): “For him or for me?”

REPORTER (as interpreted): “For you president Castro. What did you say about political prisoners?”

CASTRO (as interpreted): “Can you repeat that question about political prisoners? Did you ask if we had political prisoners? Did you ask if we had political prisoners?”

REPORTER (as interpreted): “I wanted to know if you have Cuban political prisoners and why you don’t release them –”

CASTRO (as interpreted): “Well, give me a list of the political prisoners and I will release them immediately. Just mention the list. What political prisoners? Give me a name or names, or when after this meeting is over you can give me a list of political prisoners, and if we have those political prisoners, they will be released before tonight ends.”

An updated list of political prisoners is kept by The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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