ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Cuba has completed the release of 53 political prisoners that was part of last month's historic deal between the United States and Cuba, the U.S. said Monday.

The prisoners had been on a list of opposition figures whose release was sought as part of the U.S. agreement last month with the Cuban government. They had been cited by various human rights organizations as being imprisoned by the Cuban government for exercising internationally protected freedoms or for their promotion of political and social reforms in Cuba.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at a press conference in Gandhinagar, India, Monday. (AP PhotoRick Wilking, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at a press conference in Gandhinagar, India, Monday. (AP PhotoRick Wilking, Pool)
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The U.S. has verified the release, according to an official traveling with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Islamabad. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the issue on the record.

Last month, Cuba and the U.S. agreed to work to restore normal diplomatic relations as part of a deal in which Cuba freed an imprisoned U.S. aid worker along with an imprisoned spy working for the U.S. and the imprisoned dissidents. The U.S. released several Cuba intelligence agents. The deal came after 50 years of hostility between the two countries.

"Certainly, for those 53 prisoners, it's a great deal. We don't know who they are," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in an appearance Monday on "CBS This Morning."

Rubio said he supports improving ties with Cuba but said he's worried that the Cubans are getting virtually everything they want from the United States for "these minimal changes."

He said he wants to be certain that improved relations between Washington and Havana provides equal benefits to the U.S.

"My interest in Cuba is freedom and democracy," he said. Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who's considering a run for the presidency, said there is "no current example" around the world where a "government of resistant tyranny" has moved to greater freedom and democracy as a result of changes in international relations that are based on economic incentives.

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