The Cuban government has freed the last two dissidents still in jail after a crackdown on opposition activists in 2003. Jose Ferrer and Felix Navarro were among 75 opponents of the government arrested eight years ago.
The dissidents' freedom was brokered by the Roman Catholic Church last year, with most agreeing to go into exile. The remaining prisoners had refused to leave the island. Mr Navarro, 57, a teacher and political activist, and 40-year-old Mr Ferrer, a fisherman, were freed early on Wednesday.
"My dad is in great spirits, very upbeat, very happy - and prepared to pick up where he left off in 2003," Mr Navarro's daughter, Sayli, told the AFP news agency.
There was similar jubilation for Mr Ferrer and his family.
"It was a really emotional reception. All the family was waiting for me and I am going to devote my first days to them, before taking up the struggle again," Mr Ferrer told the Spanish news agency, Efe.
He said he believed the Cuban government had been obliged to free the dissidents, but the releases did not signify that there had been political change.
"Cuba's prisons are full and there is all kinds of criminals in them, as well as a lot of victims of the regime," Mr Ferrer said via telephone from his home in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.
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