Former Polish President Lech Walesa, former Czech President Vaclav Havel and former Hungarian President Arpad Goncz made their call in a letter to the Daily Telegraph and several other leading European newspapers.
The letter from men who were themselves victims of communist oppression is likely to bring a furious response from the Cuban regime, which is acutely sensitive to attacks from countries which were once its closest allies.
Writing six months to the day after the regime sentenced 75 opposition figures to lengthy terms of imprisonment, the three men described the Castro regime as weak and desperate, but condemned current European Union and American policy as a failure.***
Coleman cited the Cuban government's crackdown on the opposition in March, when 75 dissidents were rounded up and sentenced to prison terms of between six and 28 years.
"I think about the folks in prison and what message that gives them," the Minnesota Republican said.
American moves to eliminate the 40-year-old trade and travel sanctions have "been building for some time, but it's not there yet," Coleman told a small group of American reporters in Havana. "And the March actions create a problem."
Coleman, however, said releasing some or all of the 75 dissidents "would be a good gesture," and would "increase the prospects" for American support to end the trade embargo and travel restrictions.
Coleman arrived here Friday for a four-day visit to study human rights and trade issues.
Coleman is chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. He is especially interested in future business for Minnesota farmers.
Coleman met with parliament speaker Ricardo Alarcon and other communist officials and could meet President Fidel Castro before leaving Monday.
Coleman in the past has said he believes that eliminating the trade and travel restrictions could help nurture democracy and human rights in the Caribbean nation.
But after meeting Saturday with dissidents and the relatives of jailed opponents, he said the timing is wrong.
Minnesota farmers have sold about $70 million in agricultural products to Cuba since communist officials began taking advantage of a 2000 law that created an exception to the sanctions. [End]