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Cuba's
prisons: A Devil's Island
Editorial posted
on Wed, Sep. 24, 2003 in The
Miami Herald.
Intolerably hot and cramped cells. Contaminated
water and food. Rats, bugs and medical neglect.
Is this the notorious 1850s French penal colony
on Devil's Island? No, it is what some 100,000
prisoners in Cuba live every day.
This extraordinarily high number, documented
by a new study, suggests that Cuba has one of
the world's highest rates, if not the highest
rate, of imprisonment: some 900 inmates for every
100,000 people.
This alone is reason for the international community
to condemn Cuba's barbaric prison conditions and
press for access and improvement. When he visits
Cuba this week, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva should take up this cause and lobby
for the release of the political prisoners.
ANYTHING IS A CRIME
The numbers aren't surprising. Cuba's Stalinist
police state treats all 11.3 million Cubans as
prisoners in their own country -- all except regime
elites. Thus leaving the island without the government's
blessing is a criminal offense. Practically anything
else can be considered a crime under Cuba's vaguely
worded and broadly enforced penal code.
Consider: Cubans are locked up for trying to
buy or sell anything privately, starting their
own business or having any item that may have
been purchased on the black market -- among other
''offenses.'' This year the regime targeted for
arrest people who illegally owned satellite dishes
or ran home-based video-rental businesses.
Those who criticize the regime are charged with
''disrespecting'' authority, ''dangerousness''
or ''acts against state security,'' which can
mean anything that the repressive authorities
deem criminal.
The prisoner study comes from the nongovernmental
Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National
Reconciliation. The commission painstakingly collected
information from former inmates to calculate the
capacity of Cuba's 200 prisons and labor camps.
Given the reports of overcrowding, 100,000 likely
is a conservative number.
SERIOUSLY ILL
Among the imprisoned, the commission counts more
than 300 political prisoners. That includes 75
dissidents sentenced to terms of more than 20
years on charges ranging from sedition to espionage.
Of particular concern is the inadequate medical
attention for those seriously ill, among them
Oscar Elías Biscet, Leonardo Miguel Bruzón,
Oscar Espinosa Chepe and Martha Beatriz Roque.
And what of the common prisoners? Specifics are
hard to come by because Cuba doesn't allow the
International Red Cross or other outside monitors
to observe prison conditions. The world community
and all who support human rights should pressure
the regime to open its jails to monitors -- or
face international condemnation.
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