Merry Christmas to 2,900 prisoners in Cuba who have been granted amnesty by President Raul Castro. Castro said the release was partly prompted by an upcoming visit by Pope Benedict XVI and was “a demonstration of the generosity and strength of the revolution.” The prisoners are mostly over 60 years old and ailing, or young with short criminal records. But Alan Gross, the 62-year-old U.S. contractor arrested for crimes against the state in 2009, will not be among those freed.
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