Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas ends his 135-day hunger strike from a hospital bed but says he may resume his refusal to eat or drink if the government does not fulfill its pledge to free 52 political prisoners.
A wan and bedridden Farinas in a Santa Clara hospital received his first cup of water in 135 days and wrote the letter declaring his intentions with his friend and fellow dissident Hector Palacios at his side.
He said he was "postponing" the hunger strike to see if the Cuban government frees the prisoners on a timely basis.
Farinas had been receiving nutrients intravenously. He was reportedly near death due to a life-threatening blood clot in his neck and infections that forced doctors to stop his intravenous feeding.
The Catholic Church said five prisoners would be released initially and another 47 freed over the next three to four months.
It named the first five to be released and said they would be freed within days and would leave for Spain.
A group of dissidents from Havana went to Santa Clara to meet with Farinas about ending his strike.
48-year-old psychologist and writer Farinas has sought the release of 25 ailing political prisoners, who are among the 52 to be released.
The Cuban Commission on Human Rights said Cuba has 167 political prisoners, including 10 out on parole.
Farinas stopped eating and drinking after the February 23 death of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo in an 85-day hunger strike for improved prison conditions.
However, the Cuban government was widely condemned over its human rights record after Zapata died.
Cuba's has since relaxed its politics toward dissidents and announced the planned release of prisoners after discussions with the Catholic Church and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.
The hunger strike was the 23rd conducted by Farinas in the past 15 years, including one that lasted seven months in 2006.
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