The Cuban dissident group Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) has asked the European Parliament to lobby on behalf of the freedom of political prisoners in the Caribbean nation.

"The Cuban people are not free. They suffer under totalitarian oppression from a regime that denies us rights which are recognized around the world as human rights," MCL President Oswaldo Paya wrote in a letter publicised December 17 in Havana.

There was no freedom to express opinions or to travel, and free elections were also denied on the Communist island, the letter said.  Hate and fear have not destroyed prisoners of conscience in Cuba, the group said, but they have managed to make prisoners of an entire people.