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 The release of the remaining prisoners sets a positive tone for
historic talks next week aimed at normalizing relations after
decades of hostility, the officials said.
They described the Cuban government’s release over the weekend of
the last detainees on the list as a milestone but said they would
keep pressing Havana to free more people the United States considers
political prisoners.
The officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, did
not say how many prisoners were released over the weekend or
identify them. But the White House will provide the names of all 53
to Congress and expects lawmakers to make them public, the officials
added.
There had been questions over whether Havana would release all 53
prisoners as part of the deal Presidents Barack Obama and Raul
Castro announced on Dec. 17 to restore diplomatic ties that
Washington severed more than 50 years ago.
Intense secrecy surrounding the 53, whose names have been withheld
by both countries, had fueled skepticism over Cuba’s intentions and
played to critics who said Washington hasn't pressured Havana enough
on human rights in exchange for normalizing ties and loosening
economic and travel restrictions.
 The U.S. exchanged three convicted Cuban spies for an agent who had
spied for the U.S. government. The United States also received Alan
Gross, a U.S. aid worker jailed in Cuba.
The Cuban government informed the Obama administration over the
weekend that the last of those on the list of prisoners had been
released, and the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, which handles
consular affairs and other contacts for Washington, confirmed it,
the officials said.
The U.S. officials said they would pressure communist-ruled Cuba to
release more prisoners.
"The fact of the matter is there are other individuals whose cases
we have raised in the past," one of the officials said. "We have
every expectation of going forward in the future. We’re going to be
wanting to raise the cases of different individuals who may be
detained in Cuba for exercising their universal rights."
Cuba's government says there are no political prisoners on the
island and typically describes dissidents as U.S.-paid mercenaries.
"WE’LL SEE IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS"
Leading Cuban dissidents said that as of Sunday they had not
received word that the prisoner release was complete and only knew
of up to 39 people freed since Dec. 17, including a popular hip-hop
artist.
"We have heard nothing new today," said Elizardo Sanchez, president
of the dissident Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation, which monitors detentions. "We’ll see in the next
few days if they complete the list."
 Secrecy around the list has made it difficult for Sanchez and other
dissidents to confirm a precise tally of those freed.
Speaking in detail on the prisoner release for the first time since
last month’s dramatic shift in Cuba policy, the U.S. officials said
the idea grew out of secret talks on how to release Gross and how to
structure the spy swap.
As progress was made and both sides began seeing prospects for a
broader rapprochement between the old Cold War foes last year, U.S.
negotiators sought proof of Cuba’s readiness to improve its human
rights record and last spring presented a list of prisoners they
wanted to see released, the officials said.
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The Cubans agreed to almost everyone on the list with the exception
of a handful before the names were finalized. In July, they told
Obama's aides that Havana was prepared to release 53 prisoners, the
officials said.
A final meeting was held at the Vatican, where each side reviewed
the different steps each side committed to take, including the Cuban
prisoner release, the officials said, and then the broader deal was
rolled out last month after 18 months of negotiations.
One U.S. official also said Obama could exercise executive powers
"in a matter of days and weeks" to begin easing some business and
travel restrictions.
The officials said the first of those changes could be announced
around the time of the Jan. 21-22 talks in Havana, when U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson begins high-level
negotiations on issues ranging from investments to immigration.
Reopening the U.S. embassy in Havana for the first time in 53 years
will also be a "near-term" focus for the administration and an issue
that Jacobson will discuss with the Cubans, but there is no
timeline, one of the U.S. officials said.This official said the
future of the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – long a sore
point with the Havana government – was not “on the table” during
last year's talks and that the United States has also made clear
that it will continue its “democracy program” aimed at Cuba.
"You don’t erase decades of mistrust overnight but you can chip away
at it by taking steps to improve the relationship,” the official
said.
To make its list of prisoners to be released, the United States used
information drawn from names of detainees provided by dissident
activists in Cuba and human rights groups, and compiled names of
what it considered to be core political prisoners who had been
jailed for having peacefully exercised their rights of freedom of
expression and assembly.
But it is unclear exactly how many dissidents are not on the list.
Left out were the names of at least eight Cuban exile militants
jailed on terrorism charges after they attempted to infiltrate Cuba
with weapons, as well as 20 Cubans jailed on charges of attempting
to hijack boats or planes. Also excluded, U.S. officials say, were
several Cubans jailed on unspecified charges of crimes against the
state, including a handful of people believed to have spied for the
United States.
(Editing by Jason Szep and Frances Kerry)
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