Panama City/The Government of Panama reported this Friday that the Cuban authorities “have ordered the release and departure” from the Island of three Panamanian citizens who were part of the 10 compatriots who were arrested at the end of February accused of propaganda.
“This decision has been adopted by the Cuban authorities within the framework of a gesture of humanity and friendship towards Panama, also valuing the collaboration provided by the detainees during the process, under the legal figure of effective collaborator and the application of the criterion of opportunity,” the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated in a statement.
The Government of Panama also expressed its gratitude to the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, to his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, and to the rest of the Cuban authorities who “understanding the exceptional circumstances of these arrests, have made this outcome possible.”
“This decision has been adopted by the Cuban authorities within the framework of a gesture of humanity and friendship towards Panama”
The announcement comes after a month ago, on a visit to Cuba, the Foreign Minister of Panama, Javier Martínez-Achamet precisely with Díaz-Canel and his Cuban counterpart and reported on the “humanitarian treatment and due legal assistance” that the ten detainees were receiving, with whom he spoke for an hour.
The ten Panamanians, arrested at the end of February, were “accused of committing a crime against the constitutional order of the Republic of Cuba”, a legal type that can mean up to eight years in prison on the Island.
The Cuban Ministry of the Interior reported on March 2 of his arrest accused of making graffiti critical of the Government and the political system of the Island in Havana.
It turned out that they were phrases like ‘Down with tyranny’, ‘Communism: enemy of the community’ and ‘We trust Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Mike Hammer’, referring, respectively, to the president of the United States, his secretary of state and his ambassador to the island.
