Reuters

HAVANA, July 16—Cuba's best-known jailed dissident Vladimiro Roca, the subject of unsuccessful appeals to President Fidel Castro's government from around
the world, finished his fourth year in prison on Monday.

Roca, a former jet fighter in Castro's military and son of a founding father of Cuban communism, was jailed on July 16, 1997 for anti-government activities. He is
serving a five-year sentence.

His wife, Magalys de Armas, held out little hope for an early release. Three other dissidents in Roca's so-called "Group of Four" who were jailed at the same time
were released last year before completing their sentences.

Roca and the rest of the Group of Four were jailed after holding a series of news conferences and issuing a document called "The Fatherland Belongs To All" which
criticized the ruling Communist Party's economic and political policies.

"The lawyer has asked for parole, but there has been no response. ... Up to now, we see no possibility of his being released" early, De Armas told Reuters in a
telephone interview Monday.

"With him, everything's been more severe and rigorous because he is the son of a leader of the Revolution," she said, referring to the now deceased Blas Roca, who
is still an official hero in Cuba.

De Armas said her husband, who is in prison in the central province of Cienfuegos, is suffering from high blood pressure and lung problems.

"He should never have gone to prison. He was arrested for expressing his opinion," she said.

The arrests of the four dissidents drew an unprecedented wave of appeals from rights' groups and governments around the world, including Pope John Paul II, but
Havana said it would not bow to foreign pressure on domestic matters.

The Castro government considers all dissidents U.S.-backed counter-revolutionaries. The "Group of Four" received a closed- door trial, but officials later said they
were proved guilty of receiving material support from the United States, urging an election boycott, intimidating foreign investors and making illicit contacts with
anti-Castro Cuban exile groups.

                                                        © 2001 Reuters