Cuba is set to release seven out of 59 dissidents who have been imprisoned since 2003, a decision that opponents of Fidel Castro see as indicative of a changing atmosphere under his brother's leadership. The first releases of dissidents since August were facilitated by Spain on medical grounds and announced by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Friday. Moratinos expressed satisfaction with the unilateral decision made by Cuban authorities following dialogue with Spain. According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, four of the released dissidents will be relocated to Spain with their families for medical treatment. These four individuals have been transferred from various prisons in Cuba to the Combinado del Este prison on the outskirts of Havana. The individuals are Omar Pernet, Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo, Alejandro Gonzalez, and Pedro Pablo Alvarez. Alvarez, 60, said in a telephone interview with Reuters from prison, "We hope that there will be more releases besides ours. The four of us are in good health and have been treated well. We are unsure of when we will be released, it could be either today or tomorrow." The dissidents were detained in a political crackdown ordered by Fidel Castro in March 2003, resulting in the imprisonment of 75 opponents for sentences of up to 28 years. Sixteen individuals were previously released on medical grounds. Economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, one of the freed dissidents, viewed the recent releases as a positive move by acting President Raul Castro, who has been in charge of Cuba since Fidel Castro fell ill in July 2006. Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since then. Espinosa Chepe described the releases as a logical decision by the Cuban government and reformist factions seeking change. "It reflects a climate of change and will benefit that climate of change," he said. Another dissident, Manuel Cuesta Morua, stated that Raul Castro's government was responding to international requests for improved human rights in Cuba. The releases demonstrate that Spain's strategy of engaging with Cuba's communist government is yielding tangible results, Morua added. According to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights, there were 234 political prisoners in Cuba at the end of 2007, a decrease from 283 the previous year, indicating a reduction in the number of Cubans imprisoned for political reasons since Raul Castro assumed power. Last August, Cuba released its longest-serving political prisoner, Francisco Chaviano Gonzalez, who had been jailed for over 13 years. Morua mentioned that additional releases can be anticipated as Havana gets ready to ratify the U.N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and a comparable agreement on economic and social rights by the coming month. This would require Cuba to permit regular U.N. oversight of its human rights performance starting in 2009. The Cuban government prohibits the International Red Cross from visiting its prisons. It refutes detaining any political prisoners and categorizes dissidents as "counter-revolutionary mercenaries" funded by its main adversary, the United States.