Ailing Cuban dissident granted US visa

Jun 21, 2010, 11:35 GMT

   Havana - The Cuban dissident Ariel Sigler has been awarded a US visa on humanitarian grounds one week after his release from prison, opposition sources in Havana said.

   Sigler, a 47-year-old paraplegic, must now complete the Cuban formalities required for emigration, the sources said Sunday.

   'If it were up to the US government, he could go tomorrow,' said Elizardo Sanchez, spokesman for the illegal but tolerated Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. 'But first, the Cuban government needs to give him permission to leave the country.'

   Sigler was among 75 dissidents who were arrested in 2003 and have been behind bars since. He was freed Saturday after mediation by the Catholic Church to win the release of the jailed activists.

   Six others in the group were moved to prisons closer to their families.

   In the so-called Black Spring of 2003, the 75 activists received prison sentences of up to 28 years on charges of being mercenaries in the pay of the United States.

   The news of Sigler's visa came as the Vatican's top diplomat concluded a five-day visit to Cuba.

   Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's secretary for relations with states, met Sunday with President Raul Castro.

   Mamberti had been invited by the Cuban government and the local church to mark the 75th anniversary of Vatican-Cuban relations.