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Spain 'expects Cuba dissidents' Cuban dissidents travel to Spain
(about 11 hours later)
The Ladies in White say their fight to secure the release of all dissidents goes on The dissidents' families had been told to prepare to leave at short notice
The first of a group of dissidents freed by the Cuban government will arrive in Madrid on two scheduled flights on Tuesday, Spain says. A group of political prisoners freed by Cuba are on a flight bound for Spain to start a new life in exile.
Eleven dissidents and their families were expected to travel, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said. The seven dissidents were driven to Havana airport, to be reunited with family members leaving with them.
Last week, the Cuban government, the Catholic Church and Mr Moratinos agreed a deal to secure the release of 52 such political prisoners. They are the first of 52 detainees set free under a deal brokered last week by the Roman Catholic Church and Spanish diplomats.
Cuba's ex-leader Fidel Castro will be on TV on Monday, official media say. The Cuban authorities have promised to release all 52 dissidents, but it is not known how many will go to Spain.
The official Communist Party newspaper, Granma, said Fidel Castro would appear on television and radio in the evening to discuss his concerns about the Middle East. Officials say they will not be required to stay in Spain and will be free to head elsewhere. Both the US and Chile have offered them asylum.
This image of Fidel Castro was released on 7 July Elizardo Sanchez, the head of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCHRNR), has said at least three prisoners have told the Church that they want to remain in Cuba.
Mr Castro has not been seen in public since July 2006 when he had emergency surgery. Continued protests
Photographs emerged at the weekend showing the 83-year-old former president smiling and greeting workers. The former prisoners were re-united with their wives and children late on Monday. Spanish consular officials at the airport interviewed them one by one and then granted them visas.
The images were published as the Cuban government began steps to release the first dissidents. One of the freed men, Omar Ruiz, contacted on his mobile phone by the Associated Press at the airport, told the news agency: " I won't consider myself free until I arrive in Spain."
The authorities have gathered several political prisoners and their families at separate locations in Havana. In the hours before their departure, relatives had been told to prepare to leave Cuba at a moment's notice.
"I believe that according to the latest figures they will be 11 Cuban political prisoners along with their family members," Mr Moratinos told reporters in Santander in northern Spain. "Sunday they performed medical check-ups, did paperwork for the passports and told us to be ready starting today," Irene Viera, the wife of community organiser Julio Cesar Galvez, told the Associated Press.
Mr Moratinos said they expected up to 65 family members would be travelling with them on two commercial flights. "I'm very nervous about all of this," she said. "I can finally see him without it being in prison for the first time in years."
The first flight, on an Air Europa plane, will arrive at 1300 local time (1200 BST) and a second flight operated by Iberia an hour later, the Spanish news agency Efe reported. The seven men are travelling on two flights. One, operated by Air Europa, is due in Madrid at 1300 (1100 GMT), while the second, operated by Iberia, is expected to touch down an hour later.
Over the coming days, some 17 freed dissidents are expected in Spain. The wife of the journalist Ricardo Gonzalez told the BBC that one of the first things they would do after arriving would be to go for a long walk together.
On Sunday, a dissident group known as the Ladies in White staged its weekly march calling for the release of their relatives. Earlier, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said up to 11 prisoners and 65 family members might arrive on Tuesday.
There were slightly fewer protesters than usual, as some had been taken to a government facility before going to the airport to join their husbands on a flight to Spain. The prisoner release announced last Wednesday could become the biggest this decade on the communist-ruled island.
Protests continue The Ladies in White's fight to secure the release of all dissidents goes on
The prisoner release, which could become the biggest this decade on the communist-ruled island, was announced last Wednesday. Under the agreement, 52 political prisoners should be freed in the coming months.
Under the agreement, 52 political prisoners will eventually be freed. All were part of a group of 75 dissidents rounded up in 2003 and sentenced to jail terms of between six and 28 years. The other 23 have already been freed.
All were part of a group of 75 dissidents rounded up in 2003 and sentenced to jail terms of between six and 28 years. On Sunday, a group of the wives and mothers of the political prisoners - known as the "Ladies in White" - staged their weekly march through Havana calling for the release of all political prisoners.
Leader of the Ladies in White Laura Pollan said their marches would continue. The leader of the Ladies in White said their marches would continue.
"While there is one political prisoner or prisoner of conscience, there will be Ladies in White," said Ms Pollan. "While there is one political prisoner or prisoner of conscience, there will be Ladies in White," Laura Pollan said.
"This is what we pledged from the beginning and the Ladies will keep that promise." Before Monday's releases there was a total of 167 "prisoners of conscience" in Cuba, according to the CCHRNR.
Cuba has always denied that it has political prisoners, calling them mercenaries paid by the US to undermine Havana's rule. Cuba has always denied that it has political prisoners, describing them as criminals paid by the US to destabilise the country.
Just hours before the dissidents left, ailing former President Fidel Castro appeared on state television for the first time in 11 months.
The 83-year-old spoke at length on international affairs - including North Korea and Iran.