Cuba pardons 3,500 prisoners prior to Pope Francis' visit

HAVANA , Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Cuba will free 3,522 prisoners from its jails as a humanitarian gesture in anticipation of the arrival next week of Pope Francis, the government announced Friday.

The amnesty order, which came from the governmental State Council, will not be extended to inmates serving sentences for crimes against "national security" nor to those regarded as political prisoners by human rights groups. Those convicted of serious crimes including homicide, rape, drug smuggling "cattle rustling," or the theft of state-owned livestock were also not eligible for amnesty, the Cuban communist newspaper Granma reported.

Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive Sept. 19 in Havana. He has been urged by Cuban dissident groups to bring up the topic of jailed activists when speaking with government leaders.

Amanda Duran, of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and Conciliation, an outlawed but tolerated group on the island, said 71 inmates were on its list of political prisoners. The Vatican has not confirmed if the Pope will visit with dissident groups before he leaves Cuba for the United States on Sept. 22.

Cuba released 299 prisoners prior to a 1998 visit from Pope John Paul II, and another 2,900 before the visit of Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.