Cuba will release more than 3,500 prisoners ahead of Pope Francis’s visit next week in the latest sign of warming relations between the island and the Catholic church.



Dissident groups, however, said they were disappointed that political prisoners were not on the list of those who will be pardoned in the next three days.

The latest 3,522 prisoners to be freed will include minors, people over the age of 60, prisoners in poor health and foreigners who will be repatriated, according to the Granma newspaper. It said there will be no releases of those convicted of “crimes against state security”.

Cuban cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino said the choice was made on compassionate grounds, such as family problems and health issues rather than the type of crimes committed. “It’s a humanitarian gesture,” he told CNN.



The releases are consistent with Cuba’s actions ahead of two previous papal visits. In 1998, 299 prisoners were released before a visit by Pope John Paul II and in 2012, 2,900 were freed ahead of a visit by Pope Benedict XVI.



But they come at a particularly significant time as Cuba and the US move to end one of the world’s last cold war conflicts. The two nations opened embassies in each other’s capitals in July for the first time in 54 years.



Fifty-three inmates who were considered political prisoners by dissident groups and the US were released in January as part of the deal reached the previous month by presidents Raúl Castro and Barack Obama.

Another 60 are still in jail, according to the dissident Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation.



Activists on the island said the latest list of pardons provided by the Cuban authorities did not include the names of anyone they considered a political prisoner.

“It’s a pantomime. They are trying to show a different face, but in reality the position hasn’t changed. They are not being more flexible in the political arena all,” Antonio Rodihes, of the Campaign for Another Cuba, said by telephone from Havana.



Cuba Now, a lobbying group which supports closer engagement with the island, welcomed the largest-ever prisoner release as a sign of the progress that has been made in US-Cuba relations as a result of the pope’s intervention.

But executive director Ric Herrero said in a statement that he hoped for more. “We are disappointed by reports suggesting that political prisoners may not be among those pardoned, and urge the Cuban government to reconsider as a gesture of goodwill.”



Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the fiercely anti-Castro Republican congresswoman for south Florida said the prisoners should never have been in jail in the first place.



“We should recognize this release for the farce that it is and instead work to support Cuban pro-democracy leaders instead of congratulating an empty gesture by a tyrannical regime,” she said in a statement

The Cuban government said there will be no releases of those convicted of crimes against state security, but this would not rule out activists detained for peaceful protest, such as the artist Danilo Maldonado, alias “El Sexto”, who is awaiting trial on a charge of “disrespect” for painting a pair of pigs called “Fidel” and “Raúl” after the Castro brothers who have held the presidency since the 1959 revolution.



The pope is expected to meet both leaders – presuming the ailing Fidel’s health allows – during his visit from 19-22 September. The highlight of the trip is expected to be a mass in revolution square. Cuba will pardon and release 3,522 prisoners ahead of next week’s visit by Pope Francis, the third time the country has granted inmates freedom before a papal visit.