Cuba concludes release of 553 prisoners following Vatican-brokered deal

By Dave Sherwood and Nelson Acosta

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's top tribunal said late on Monday 553 prisoners had been released following a deal brokered by the Vatican that seemed in limbo after U.S. President Donald Trump reversed a Biden administration pledge to ease sanctions on the country.

Former President Joe Biden in January agreed to remove Cuba from a U.S. terrorism blacklist in exchange for the prisoner release in negotiations with the Catholic Church.

Trump rescinded the Biden deal upon taking office, putting Cuba back on the list, slapping the island with fresh sanctions and prompting its communist-run government to temporarily pause the prisoner release.

But Cuba's state-run media said on the evening TV newscast Monday that judicial officials had confirmed the "early release" of 553 prisoners.

"Authorities of the Supreme People's Court of Cuba affirm that these 553 people are already free and that the process has concluded," the report said.

Rights groups began reporting a fresh trickle of prisoners released from the island's jails last week despite Trump's decision to back out of the Biden deal. The groups, however, said some of those liberated appeared to be common criminals.

The Biden administration had initially said Cuba would release "political prisoners" as part of the broader deal.

But Cuba did not specify, saying it would gradually release "553 people sanctioned for diverse crimes."

The United States, the European Union, the Catholic Church and watchdog groups have long pushed Cuba to release hundreds of protesters jailed following anti-government protests on July 11, 2021, the largest since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

Cuban authorities maintain those it jailed committed crimes ranging from arson to vandalism and sedition.

Watchdog groups said around 200 prisoners tied with protests had been released as of late last week, though they said scarce information made it difficult to be sure.

The Cuban state-run media report on Monday did not specify how many of the 553 prisoners released under the Vatican-brokered deal had been detained in relation to the 2021 protests.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood and Nelson Acosta; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)