WASHINGTON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday called on the Cuban government to release four jailed dissidents belonging to a human rights group whose members began a hunger strike 56 day ago.
"The United States strongly condemns the arrest of persons who are being victimized solely because they are peacefully seeking to exercise fundamental rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Cuba is a party,'' a State Department official said.
"We call on the Cuban government to release pro-democracy and human rights activists and to take the steps necessary to guarantee the excercise of fundamental freedoms,'' he said.
Seven members of the group,including two of those now in jail, began a solid food hunger strike on Oct. 9 after one of them was arrested in the central Cuban town of Santa Clara.
They belong to one of the small human rights groups who are opposed to President Fidel Catro's communist government and are seeking democratic change. They also want the authorities to free their four jailed members and drop charges of belonging to a delinquent association filed against the group's members.
Eleven dissidents began the hunger strike, but four dropped out due to health problems.
Cuban exiles in the United States identified the hunger strikers as: Daula Carpio Matas, Lilian Meneses Martinez, Ileana Penalver Duque, Danilo Santos Mendez, Jose Antonio Alvarado Almeida, Ivan Lema Romero and Jose Manuel Yera Benitez. The last two are in jail along with Roxana Carpio Matas and Vicente Garcia Ramos.
21:45 12-03-97