U.S. Says Cuba to Take Inmates

The State Department said Sunday that Cuba has agreed to take the Cuban detainees who surrendered peacefully after holding hostages at a jail for nearly a week.

There was no word from Cuba on the agreement. Government offices in Havana were closed Sunday and calls to the office of Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez rang unanswered.

Five Cubans and one Bahamian gave up late Saturday at the St. Martin Parish jail, freeing the warden, a female guard and five female inmates. The standoff began Dec. 13 with inmates demanding their release from the south-central Louisiana jail.

The Cubans had been held in a state of legal limbo. Before the hostage-taking, the U.S. government wouldn’t release them because it considered them subject to deportation, and the Cuban government would not take them back.

The inmates were in federal custody Sunday while details for their return were being worked out. It was unclear if the Bahamian would be going to Cuba.