HAVANA · Cuban authorities released opposition leader Martha Beatriz Roque and about 10 other dissidents early Saturday morning, but continued to detain at least 15 others who had attempted to attend a demonstration for the freedom of political prisoners, according to a human rights monitor in Havana.

An economist and former political prisoner who heads one of Cuba's largest opposition coalitions, Roque, 59, was on her way to a demonstration at the French Embassy on Friday morning when her car was stopped by Cuban police and she was taken into custody, she said. Two other dissident leaders, Rene Gómez and Félix Bonne, were also detained and remain in custody Saturday, said human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez of the nongovernmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

During her 20-hour detention, Roque was taken to two police stations and questioned about her role in planning the demonstration. She said she was released at 5 a.m. Saturday morning after being examined by a doctor who found she was in poor health because of complications from diabetes.

"I was on a hunger strike. ... I was not going to return to prison because that's a slow death that awaits me there," a visibly weakened Roque said in an interview at her home Saturday afternoon. "I prefer to die than be imprisoned."

Roque was the only woman arrested during the Cuban government's 2003 crackdown, which sent 75 dissidents to prison for up to 28 years on charges that they conspired to subvert Cuba's socialist system. She was released last year because of poor health, but has continued to draw attention to Cuba's political prisoners.

"The Cuban government solves everything by putting people in prison," Roque said Saturday. "I think it is not permissible for this to continue to happen. ... Something must be done to stop this situation."

In May, Roque, Gómez and Bonne organized a high-profile assembly to push for a democratic transition in Cuba. About 150 dissidents attended the landmark meeting of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, as well as diplomats from the United States and Europe. Cuban authorities expelled several European lawmakers who traveled to Havana to attend the meeting.

On Saturday there was no information on Gómez and Bonne, who both spent time in prison in the late 1990s after writing and publicizing a pamphlet criticizing President Fidel Castro's government.

Vanessa Bauzá can be reached at vmbauza1@yahoo.com.

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