HAVANA (AP) — One year ago, the Cuban government began releasing 53 political prisoners whom President Barack Obama wanted freed as part of a historic deal to re-establish diplomatic relations between the former Cold War foes.

US government information and an Associated Press assessment of the dissidents’ lives 12 months after their release shows that at least 35 have asked for refugee status allowing them to move permanently to the US, reducing the ranks of an already weak and divided opposition movement.

Many applications have been delayed by vetting of the dissidents’ criminal records, some of which have little to do with political activity. Seven have either left Cuba or are preparing to leave this month.

Among those who remain, at least six men are back in Cuban prison on what their allies say are politically related charges. Others have abandoned activism altogether.

About 20 of the freed dissidents have decided not to leave, some because they’ve abandoned political activism. But others say they want to stay and work to change the government.

“Our commitment is here,” said Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, a group based in the country’s east.  “We do a lot to make our members aware of that, so that they don’t leave.”

Many Cuban exiles view the country’s dissidents as brave freedom fighters against the single-party state founded by Fidel Castro and run by his brother, Raul. Exiles support some political activists here with money and lobbying of politicians and the press in the US and other countries.

The Cuban government historically has characterised internal dissidents as unpatriotic mercenaries acting on behalf of the US government and violent exile groups who want to retake control of Cuba.

Whatever the reason, many ordinary Cubans today question the dissidents’ credentials, saying they suspect the activists are motivated mostly by money from abroad and the chance of visa to the US or Europe.

Obama’s new policy moves away from a decades-long US focus on the dissidents and toward a broader diplomatic and economic engagement with the Cuban government. He argues that will bring better conditions for the Cuban people in the long run, and says he may travel to Cuba as early as this spring if he feels the rights situation here is improving and a presidential trip will help.

In a statement Thursday night, the State Department said: “We have publicly called for the release of political prisoners and others jailed for exercising their internationally recognized freedoms in Cuba, and will continue to do so.” It added that the US Embassy has been in contact with many of those freed last year.

International advocacy groups such as Amnesty International say that regardless of US policy, it’s up to Cuba to improve the island’s human rights situation.

“The reforms that have to be made in terms of restrictions of liberty must come from the Cuban government, not from the government of the United States,” said Marselha Goncalves Margerin, Amnesty International’s advocacy director for the Americas.

Cuban officials did not respond to requests for comment on how the freed dissidents are faring.