Cuba won't free graffiti artist 'El Sexto' for pope's visit

Cuba won't free graffiti artist 'El Sexto' for pope's visit
©The Daily Telegraph | 14 September, 2015 08:36

Cuba is to release 3522 prisoners as a gesture of goodwill to celebrate
the visit of Pope Francis. Political prisoners don't qualify.

Pope Francis arrives on Saturday on a trip that crowns a year of Cuba
coming in from the cold and restoring diplomatic relations with the US -
a deal partly brokered by the Catholic Church.

Granma, the ruling Communist Party newspaper, said this would be the
most prisoners released in one batch since the 1959 revolution. But it
looked unlikely that it would include the 60 inmates classified as
political prisoners by the Commission of Human Rights and National
Reconciliation.

The most famous of those is Danilo Maldonado, 32, a graffiti artist
known as "El Sexto" who was arrested on Boxing Day after painting the
names Fidel and Raul on two pigs and planning to free them in Havana,
for a family to catch and eat. He was charged with "disrespect" and his
case was reportedly brought up by US President Barack Obama when he met
President Raul Castro in April.

Source: Cuba won't free graffiti artist 'El Sexto' for pope's visit -
Times LIVE -
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/09/14/Cuba-wont-free-graffiti-artist-El-Sexto-for-popes-visit