Cuba has released prominent dissident José Daniel Ferrer from jail, as part of a Cuban government decision to gradually free more than 500 prisoners as part of talks with the Vatican.

Cuba on Wednesday began releasing prisoners jailed following anti-government protests in 2021, making good on a deal agreed with the Biden administration this week. Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday removed Cuba from a blacklist of nations that sponsor terrorism and rolled back a raft of sanctions implemented by Donald Trump during his first presidency that have contributed to the communist-run island's worst economic crisis in decades.

After years of debate, the Biden administration has notified Congress that it will remove Cuba from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism, a label given the island nation in the last days of the previous Trump presidency.