(7 Nov 2010)
1. Tilt down from Santa Rita church to members of the Ladies in White dissident group
2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Laura Pollan, member of Ladies in White:
"If they do not comply, they are not fooling us nor will they be fooling the prisoners, nor the people of Cuba, like they are used to doing. They are fooling and playing with the Church as an institution, with the government of Spain, with the governments of the European Union, and with the international community. It will show that their word has no value, and that they cannot be believed. But we will wait until midnight to see what happens".
3. Mid of Ladies marching, holding up their hands in form of an 'L' for 'Liberty'
4. Wide of Ladies chanting UPSOUND (Spanish):
"Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!"
5. Wide of Ladies marching in front of Santa Rita church
STORYLINE:
The wives and mothers of Cuba's most prominent political prisoners marched through the streets of Havana Sunday, demanding the government honour an agreement to release their loved ones by the end of the day -- or face protests and international condemnation.
With the deadline approaching and no word on the men's fate, a standoff between President Raul Castro and the island's small but vocal opposition community appeared imminent.
One dissident vowed to start a hunger strike if the 13 prisoners are not in their homes by Monday, and a human rights leader warned the government was playing with fire.
Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, the only human rights group tolerated on the island, warned that not to release them would be fatal to the promise made to the Catholic church.
Castro agreed following a meeting with Roman Catholic Cardinal Jamie Ortega to release 52 prisoners of conscience held since a 2003 crackdown on peaceful dissent.
The 7 July deal called for all the prisoners to be free in three to four months, a period that ends at midnight Sunday.
Father Jose Felix Perez, who coordinates Cuba's Catholic Bishops Conference and usually celebrates Mass for the Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in White, the dissident group made up of family members of the 2003 prisoners, said it would be strange if the men were not released.
He said the church had expected them to be freed.
Cuban officials have declined to comment on the deadline.
At first, the government moved swiftly to make good on the deal, sending 39 prisoners into exile in Spain, along with their families. Authorities even agreed to release another 14 prisoners who were in jail for violent - but politically motivated - crimes.
They too were sent to Spain, though the agreement struck with the Church made no mention of exile being a condition for release.
But progress has ground to a halt recently.
The remaining 13 prisoners of conscience have refused to leave the island, a direct challenge to the government. Some say they will continue their fight for democratic political change the moment they leave jail.
As the hours ticked down Sunday, a confrontation appeared to be looming.
Laura Pollan, a Damas leader, said her group would not stop fighting whether they release the prisoners or not, following a quiet protest by 30 women Sunday on Havana's grand Fifth Avenue thoroughfare.
Her husband, Hector Maseda, 67, is serving a 20-year term for treason and other crimes.
Pollan said if the government fails to release the men, "it will show that their word has no value, and that they cannot be believed." "But we will wait until midnight to see what happens," she added.
frayed since the 2003 arrests.
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