Elizardo Sanchez

MEXICO CITY - Cuba's best-known blogger, a prominent critic of its government, was arrested by authorities, apparently to prevent her from covering the trial of a conservative Spanish politician who is accused of causing the death of a Cuban dissident in a car crash this summer. The arrest Thursday of Yoani Sanchez and her husband, fellow blogger Reinaldo Escobar, was reported by pro-government Cuban blogs and confirmed Friday by Elizardo Sanchez, head of the independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

MEXICO CITY - Cuba's best-known blogger, a prominent critic of its government, was arrested by authorities, apparently to prevent her from covering the trial of a conservative Spanish politician who is accused of causing the death of a Cuban dissident in a car crash this summer. The arrest Thursday of Yoani Sanchez and her husband, fellow blogger Reinaldo Escobar, was reported by pro-government Cuban blogs and confirmed Friday by Elizardo Sanchez, head of the independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

Three leading human rights activists who outspokenly criticized the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro were arrested in pre-dawn raids on their homes in Havana on Sunday, according to a representative of Cuban rights organizations here. The three, Elizardo Sanchez, Hubert Jerez and Hiram Abi Cobas were picked up only days after they complained to visiting American journalists of an intensified crackdown against dissidents by the Castro government.

The Cuban government has agreed to release the largest group of political prisoners in a decade, following months of talks and the intervention this week of Spain, the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba said Wednesday. In a statement posted on its website, the Archdiocese of Havana said 52 prisoners would be freed — five "in the next hours" and an additional 47 in the next three to four months. All will be allowed to leave the country, the church said. It was not clear, however, whether the Cuban government would require them to do so. Human rights activists in Cuba have insisted that freedom be granted unconditionally.

The Cuban government has agreed to release the largest group of political prisoners in a decade, following months of talks and the intervention this week of Spain, the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba said Wednesday. In a statement posted on its website, the Archdiocese of Havana said 52 prisoners would be freed — five "in the next hours" and an additional 47 in the next three to four months. All will be allowed to leave the country, the church said. It was not clear, however, whether the Cuban government would require them to do so. Human rights activists in Cuba have insisted that freedom be granted unconditionally.

Of all the places to interview Ricardo Bofill, a dissident who confronts the government of Cuba on human rights abuses, his apartment on the outskirts of Havana might seem the least likely. The apartment is one floor above the residence of the local representative of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, the Cuban government's grass-roots vigilance network.

The Cuban government has launched a new crackdown against human rights activists and for the first time stands accused of using electric shock treatments and psychoactive drugs against forcibly hospitalized political prisoners, according to leaders of the country's two major human rights groups.

Cuban human rights activists Wednesday called for a general amnesty for all political prisoners held in Cuba. Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz, head of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said there are at least "between 700 and 800 political prisoners currently held in Cuban jails." The government says Cuba has no political prisoners.

At least one life saved. Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas ended a hunger strike following the announcement that 52 political prisoners would be freed from jail under a deal Spain and the Roman Catholic Church negotiated with the government of President Raul Castro. The agreement came too late for Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a prisoner of conscience who died in February on a hunger strike protesting mistreatment, but just in time for the 48-year-old Farinas. A psychologist and journalist, Farinas was seeking the release of other political prisoners.

Cuba expelled two Havana-based Western news agency correspondents and reportedly arrested three Cuban members of an independent human rights organization. The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported the expulsions of Robert Powell of the Reuters news agency and Noel Lorthiosis of Agence France-Presse.

Three leading human rights activists who outspokenly criticized the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro were arrested in pre-dawn raids on their homes in Havana on Sunday, according to a representative of Cuban rights organizations here. The three, Elizardo Sanchez, Hubert Jerez and Hiram Abi Cobas were picked up only days after they complained to visiting American journalists of an intensified crackdown against dissidents by the Castro government.

The Cuban government has launched a new crackdown against human rights activists and for the first time stands accused of using electric shock treatments and psychoactive drugs against forcibly hospitalized political prisoners, according to leaders of the country's two major human rights groups.

Of all the places to interview Ricardo Bofill, a dissident who confronts the government of Cuba on human rights abuses, his apartment on the outskirts of Havana might seem the least likely. The apartment is one floor above the residence of the local representative of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, the Cuban government's grass-roots vigilance network.

Cuba held its third trial of dissidents in less than a month, sentencing three people who participated in a human rights meeting to three years in prison, a local human rights group said. The trials marked a new push by the government to quell dissent after a much larger crackdown last year, in which 75 government opponents were arrested and sentenced to six to 28 years in prison.