Madrid: As Spain prepares to receive more political prisoners from Cuba, the seven who have already arrived here with their families are welcoming their newfound freedom but face an uncertain future.
To the freed Cuban prisoners, Spain is like a gift compared to the prisons where they were held in communist Cuba. But finding work in a nation with high unemployment could be a struggle, experts said.
Another four dissidents were scheduled to fly into Spain with their families yesterday, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said, adding that all of Cuba's political prisoners would eventually be released by the Castro government.
"All those who are political prisoners will be released from jail," Moratinos told journalists. A total of 20 have agreed to move to Spain.
But the first of more than 50 dissidents to be released have flown to a country suffering deep economic problems.
Though they beamed smiles and flashed victory signs as they arrived in Madrid aboard two jetliners, they were given an early taste of potentially tough conditions that lie ahead.
After a news conference, the Cubans and their families including wives, young children and even some parents, were driven by bus from the airport to a modest hotel in an industrial estate in a working-class area of Madrid.
The one-star hotel is not surrounded by the luxury typical of Europe's wealthy neighbourhoods. Each floor has shared men's and women's bathrooms.
"To begin with I felt a bit uncomfortable, they've explained that we're going to be here three days," said Ricardo Gonzalez, adding that he had neither money nor any fresh clothes.
