Petrified Truth

"They Are Killing These People"

Word is trickling out of Fidel Castro's prison nation about the conditions under which he and his jailers are holding uncounted prisoners of conscience. No word yet from the Hollywood smart set, the American Library Association, or other apologists for Castro about these cruel reports. Danny Glover, call your local library -- your sense of shame is overdue.

At least 20 Cuban dissidents, part of a group of 75 journalists, librarians and economists arrested nearly a year ago, are seriously ill in Cuban prison cells where they are being held under inhumane conditions, according to their wives, friends and human rights activists in Cuba.

They are killing these people," said Miriam Leiva, whose imprisoned husband, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, is suffering from advanced cirrhosis of the liver. Espinosa, 63, an economist sentenced to 20 years for criticizing Fidel Castro's economic policies, is being held in a cell on the grounds of a military hospital in Havana, Leiva said. She said his cell had no windows or running water and the lights were kept on 24 hours a day. He has lost 40 pounds, is unable to eat and has a fungal infection covering his legs, she said.

"The situation is getting worse every day," Vladimiro Roca, a dissident writer released from prison in 2002, said from his Havana home. "When I was a prisoner, the conditions were inhuman, but it's nothing compared to what they are going through now."

Elizardo Sanchez, who heads the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said about half of the 75 activists remain in "punishment cells," which he said are about three feet wide and six feet long, have no windows, little ventilation and no running water. He said prisoners are subjected to extreme heat in the summer and year-round infestation by insects and rats.

"These jails are like concentration camps," Sanchez said. "There is no doubt that this is a deliberate policy of extreme cruelty on the part of the state."

Roca, Sanchez and leading activist Oswaldo Paya said that about 20 of the jailed dissidents were suffering from such serious health problems as kidney disease, diabetes, cirrhosis, hypertension, heart disease and extreme weight loss. The State Department and human rights groups have appealed to Castro's government to immediately release the most gravely ill prisoners, "but it's been a complete stonewall by the government on this issue," said Eric Olson, the Americas advocacy director for Amnesty International in Washington.

Via the Washington Post