This communiqué appeared originally in Spanish on our sister blog on Monday 14 June 2010.

The government of Raúl Castro has released one of his approximately two hundred political prisoners, and has transferred other twelve to prisons closer to their places of residence. This is the tangible result of the dialog between the regime and the Catholic Church a month after it was announced.

If the releases were to continue at the same rate, they would take one and a half decades. This prospect is unacceptable, not only to us, but also to the great majority of the internal opposition, the Cuban diaspora and democratic nations. We can support any process that would result in the improvement of the conditions in which the political prisoners are kept, and “extra-penal licenses” [paroled release] for a few, but we will not allow these developments to replace or undermine the efforts toward the immediate and unconditional release of all of them.

This week is going to be decisive to determine the scope of Raúl Castro’s will to release more political prisoners. It is up to him to send an unequivocal sign of his intentions. Without substantial advance in the releases, and without a clear chart for their immediate future, our only choice will be to double the efforts of the #OZT I Accuse the Cuban government Campaign.

Our campaign has received more that 49,000 signatures claiming the immediate release of all political prisoners and respect for human rights in Cuba. Almost 2,000 of these signatures come from the island. Hundreds of others come from public figures that have offered their national and international reputations to back our cause. This is not the end of our efforts for the release of all Cuban political prisoners, but only the basis on which to continue fighting for it.

Next week we will announce the date and further details of the first delivery of the signatures.

I signed because the Cuban government can no longer pretend that it is upholding the law when it incarcerates people for crimes of “disrespect,” “dangerousness” and “ideological diversionism.”

The shocking, brutal treatment of Orlando Zapata Tamayo in prison, the shameful persecution of the Damas de Blanco, and the ongoing incarceration of over 200 peaceful dissidents who held opinions not approved by the government, show that government to be the worst kind of dictatorship.

That the Castro regime has not responded to hunger striker Guillermo Farinas’ request that it release 26 of the most critically ill Cuban political prisoners is evidence of the callous disregard for human life that is the lynchpin of this totalitarian dynasty.

Valerie Block, American writer

Why have you signed the declaration for the Freedom of Cuban Political Prisoners? If you would like to make public your reasons, we invite you to send an email to ozt.prensa@gmail.com. Please write in the subject "Reasons to sign the declaration."

With this post, '#OZT: I Accuse the Cuban Government' starts publishing a series of responses from public figures who've shared with us the reasons why they have signed the declaration for the Freedom of Cuban Political Prisoners. Their support covers a very wide political range and represents many sectors from society. That diversity is precisely the basis on which this campaign in defense of human rights (in Cuba and anywhere else in the world) rests.

Apart from the many reasons to sign this letter, I am even more intrigued by the reasons not to sign it that could be argued by those who have not signed such a simple document that the only thing it does is to advocate for the most basic human rights for all Cubans.

Paquito D'Rivera, Cuban musician

Why have you signed the declaration for the Freedom of Cuban Political Prisoners? If you would like to make public your reasons, we invite you to send an email to ozt.prensa@gmail.com. Please write in the subject "Reasons to sign the declaration."