HAVANA, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Cuban authorities have released three jailed dissidents who had been on a four-month protest fast on condition they leave the country, a dissident colleague said on Tuesday.
The three ended their 120-day fast, during which they took only liquids, last Thursday and were released from prison and hospitalized in the central city of Santa Clara to recover, Marilys Vazquez, a fellow member of the dissident Party For Human Rights, said.
Three other fasting dissidents in Santa Clara, who were due to serve time in a work camp but had already been hospitalized because of ill health, were also spared their sentences on condition they leave the country, Vazquez said.
Vazquez, who headed a support group for the fasters, told Reuters by telephone the six had lost up to 50 pounds (23 kg) each during their fast. She said they were now eating well.
She said she did not know how long their recovery period would last or to what country they would go but added it could be the United States.
The six Santa Clara dissidents had been condemned to 18 months in prison or farm labor camp for criminal association and disobedience. They began their fasts in early October to protest the sentences.
There was no immediate word on the case from Cuban authorities, who rarely comment on issues related to the island's small and illegal dissident groups.
The releases follow the Vatican's handing over to President Fidel Castro's government of appeals for clemency from dozens of Cuban prisoners, some of them political, during Pope John Paul's January visit to the communist island.
But it was not clear if the clemency for the six Santa Clara dissidents was related to those appeals, particularly since the authorities attached the condition of leaving the country.
The Cuban government has said it is carefully studying the appeals for clemency it received from the Vatican but has given no details or any indication of when it might respond.
The authorities have sometimes offered political prisoners the chance of release on condition they leave the country.
Vazquez said the six had made the decision to stop their fast and accept the authorities' offer despite the attached condition because their families were worried about their health. REUTERS
03:00 02-11-98