Political prisoners freed in Cuba land in Canada

``I am happy,'' said Dr. Omar del Pozo Marrero, one of the two men jailed for unmasking the spy operation. ``Why am I happy? I have liberty for the first time in my life.''

The 12 former prisoners, along with about two dozen relatives, reached Toronto's Pearson International Airport after an overnight flight from Havana.

``Long live democracy in Cuba,'' they chanted. They posed for news photographers, donned warm clothes provided by the Canadian government to ward off the predawn chill, and rode a school bus to a motel.

A number of the prisoners reportedly have sought asylum in the United States, but it is not clear if it has been granted to any of them.

Canada initially agreed to accept 19 of the 299 prisoners whose cases were cited by the Pope during his visit to Cuba in January.

Two of the 19 are to arrive in Canada later, but five are still imprisoned because Canadian authorities decided not to accept them after conducting health and security checks.

One of those rejected by Canada was involved in a 1992 attempt to steal a boat in which four police officers were killed; two others were jailed for a failed 1987 plane hijacking in which 14 people were injured by a hand grenade.

Canada's immigration minister, Lucienne Robillard, said the decision to refuse entry to the five was taken ``only with the greatest care and compassion . . . keeping in mind responsibility for the safety and health of Canadians.''

Many of those who were freed had received prison terms of 10 years or more for alleged involvement in ``enemy propaganda'' or ``rebellion.'' Human rights groups said the offenses were often nothing more than distributing political leaflets, talking about alternatives to the government of President Fidel Castro or phoning Miami radio stations to transmit news about the island.

Del Pozo Marrero and another freed prisoner, Victor Reynaldo Infante Estrada, were jailed after revealing the identity of a Cuban government agent who was posing as a dissident and had become the leader of a small radical opposition group.

Both were detained in April 1992, and were serving 15-year prison terms for revealing state security secrets.

The released prisoners and their families are free to remain in Canada, but some are expected to head to South Florida, where they have relatives in the Cuban exile community.

In the Bahamas, meanwhile, Deputy Immigration Director Vernon Burrows said Cuban baseball player Jorge Luis Toca, held for more than two weeks in a detention center outside Nassau, was en route to Japan on Tuesday after accepting an offer of asylum.

The first baseman left Nassau with his wife, Miyo, a Japanese citizen, late Monday. He was to arrive in Tokyo today after stops in London and Amsterdam.

Eight Cubans who fled their homeland with Toca on March 20, including three baseball players and a coach, remained in custody Tuesday at the Bahamian detention center. Burrows said they had signed an agreement with the Florida-based sports agency KDN Sports Inc. to represent them in visa discussions with the Costa Rican government.