Release
Espinosa was released from prison along with fellow writer Raúl Rivero on November 29, 2004, after serving just over 19 months of his prison sentence; It was his sixty-fourth birthday. The authorities granted him medical parole because his already poor health had declined seriously during his incarceration.
After his release, he called on the government to release the remaining Black Spring prisoners, stating, "The government really committed a very big error with us. We are completely peaceful and we want only the reconciliation of Cuban society."
In 2006, Espinosa stated his opposition to U.S. funding for the Cuban dissident movement, calling it "counterproductive" and stating that the Cuban people must solve its own problems. Following Raul Castro's assumption of the presidency, Espinosa expressed his hope that Castro could be the Deng Xiaoping of Cuba, improving the economy and the standard of living.
Read more about this topic: Oscar Espinosa Chepe
Famous quotes containing the word release:
“The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.”
—Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
guns!”
—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)