Cuba police free mother of hunger striker who died

Cuban police have freed the mother of a dissident who died last year after a long hunger strike.

Reina Luisa Tamayo says Saturday that police held her for 12 hours at a station in her hometown of Banes. She says her husband Jesus Ortiz also was held.

Tamayo's son Orlando Zapata died last Feb. 23 after an 83-day hunger strike to demand. He was imprisoned for disrespecting authority.

Tamayo says she and 13 relatives have been given documents to go to the United States as political refugees. She says they still await Cuban paperwork.

Cuban police often haul in dissidents and their families, usually allowing them to go free within hours or days.