Raul Castro on Political Prisoners: “Whaaaaaatt??”

Raul Castro on Political Prisoners: “Whaaaaaatt??”

It was an awkward scene inside Cuba’s Revolutionary Hall on Monday during a joint press conference between President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro when CNN’s Jim Acosta asked the normally shy communist dictator whether he would release the dozens of political prisoners currently held by his regime.

“Whaaaaat? Political prisoners? In Cuba?” asked a visibly flustered Castro. “Nah bro, you’re trippin. We don’t have any political prisoners. I mean, even if we did, and we for sure don’t, but even if we did, we would like definitely release them. Just produce a list of names and if we have those political prisoners, they will be released before tonight ends.”

When handed a list of 53 political prisoners currently being held in Cuban prisons, President Castro made eye-contact with a member of his secret police, flashed an awkward smile to an bemused President Obama, and then ran off the stage so quickly that he left only a smoke silhouette of himself like an old Road Runner cartoon.