Cuba releases 3 political prisoners, 65 still jailed from 2003 arrests News
Cuba releases 3 political prisoners, 65 still jailed from 2003 arrests

[JURIST] Cuban authorities on Monday released three more of the 75 political prisoners they arrested in March 2003. The newly freed prisoners are Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Margarito Broche Espinosa and Marcelo Lopez Banobre. Chepe is a 64 year old economist and journalist. Broche is 45 and president of the National Association of Rafters for Peace, Democracy and Freedom. Banobre is 41, a tugboat captain jailed for communications with Amnesty International. All three are believed to be in poor health. The releases come in the wake of talks with EU members that would reverse some of the diplomatic measures taken against Cuba after the March 2003 roundup of journalists, librarians and freedom activists. Earlier this year Cuba released 7 of the 75 prisoners, also on health grounds. It is estimated that Cuba continues to have more than 300 people jailed as political prisoners. The US State Department has background. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.