CUBA: 3,522 PRISONERS PARDONED AHEAD OF POPE FRANCIS VISIT

The Cuban government said it plans to pardon 3,522 prisoners over the next 72 hours as a "humanitarian" gesture ahead of Pope Francis's visit to the island beginning next week.
But the announcement appeared to rule out pardons for at least some of the dozens of inmates that rights groups consider political prisoners. Convicts serving time for crimes against "national security" would not be eligible for release, said the statement in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
Those receiving pardons will include inmates over age 60 or under 20 with no prior convictions and prisoners whose terms are nearing an end, as well as women, the infirm and foreigners whose countries will accept their repatriation.
The amnesty, ordered by the State Council, the Cuban government's supreme body, will not extend to those serving time for homicide, rape, drug trafficking and other serious offenses in Cuba such as "cattle rustling," according to Granma.
The government issued similar amnesties prior to previous papal visits. Nearly 3,000 inmates received pardons before Pope Benedict XVI’s arrival in 2012, and Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1998 prompted the release of several hundred others.