Cuba's communist authorities on Friday began a prisoner release negotiated with the Vatican and confirmed that talks were underway with the United States amid intense pressure from President Donald Trump.
The Justicia 11J rights group said it had been able to confirm the release of two people jailed for taking part in major anti-government protests on July 11, 2021.
Cuba said Thursday that it would release 51 prisoners after talks with the Holy See, which has in the past acted as mediator between Havana and Washington.
Havana has described the prisoner releases as a "goodwill" gesture to the Vatican.
AFP witnessed the arrival home of Adael Leyva Diaz, 29, who was serving a 13-year sentence, and Ronald García Sanchez, 33, sentenced to 14 years.
Both live in the Havana suburb of Arroyo Naranjo.
According to Justice 11J, which tracks arrests since the 2021 protests, there are at least 760 political prisoners behind bars in Cuba.
The unusual show of clemency came hours after President Miguel Diaz-Canel confirmed that his government was in talks with the United States.
Trump has said Cuba will be "next" on his agenda after Iran and the US overthrow of Cuba's top ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.
Speaking to AFP, a White House official on Friday repeated Trump's claim that Cuba is a "failing nation" and that a deal would its government "would be very easily made."
The Republican leader has placed the impoverished island under a US oil blockade, strangling its fuel supply on the basis of what he called the "extraordinary threat" posed by Cuba to the United States.
This comes on top of a six-decade-old US trade embargo.
During a meeting with top Cuban officials, broadcast live on national television, Diaz-Canel said Havana was negotiating with Washington, but gave little away about the nature of the talks.
"Cuban officials recently held discussions with representatives of the United States government," he said, confirming negotiations first revealed by Trump in mid-January.
"These conversations have been aimed at seeking solutions -- through dialogue -- to the bilateral differences," he added.
- 'Make a deal' -
Mexico's left-wing President Claudia Sheinbaum, who had offered to mediate between Cuba and the United States, welcomed the talks, highlighting "the injustice of the blockade against the Cuban people for all these years."
Two Mexican Navy ships bearing 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid -- the third Mexican aid shipment since February -- arrived Friday in Cuba.
US media reports say Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, a grandson of former president Raul Castro, has been holding secret talks for weeks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is Cuban-American.
"As long as it benefits us, we'll reach an agreement, but on our terms," Sergio Guerra, a 55-year-old food trader, told AFP.
Rodriguez Castro was seated in the front row at the meeting addressed by Diaz-Canel on Friday.
The Cuban government has been in Trump's sights since the January overthrow of Washington's other foe in the Caribbean, Maduro, on whom Cuba relied for cheap oil.
The oil embargo has brought Cuba's already troubled economy to the brink of collapse.
The blockade has also starved Cuba's power plants and farms of fuel and brought daily life to a near standstill. Airlines have curtailed or suspend flights to the island for lack of fuel.
Trump last weekend predicted that Cuba "is going to fall pretty soon" and told CNN: "They want to make a deal so badly."
Diaz-Canel said the talks were being supported by "international factors" without elaborating.
Underlining the tension across the Florida Straits separating Cuba and the United States, Cuban forces opened fire on a speedboat carrying a group of alleged armed, US-based assailants on February 25. Five of the people on the boat were killed.
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