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Imprisoned journalist Normando
Hernández hospitalised for TB
Reporters
Without Borders,
France, 12 January 2005.
Blanca González, the mother of Normando
Hernández González,
told Reporters Without Borders today that
his wife, Yaraí Reyes Marín,
will be able to visit him in the Pinar del
Río provincial hospital on 19 January.
She said although Reyes was unable to speak
to him when she called the hospital on 5
January, he called her back two days later
and told her he felt weaker as a result
of the treatment he is receiving and could
not get out of bed. González said
she is worried because she believes the
treatment for tuberculosis he is getting
is contraindicated for persons with his
type of stomach ailment.
11 January 2005
Reporters Without Borders said today it
holds the Cuban government responsible for
the state of health of imprisoned journalist
Normando Hernández González,
who appears to have contracted tuberculosis
in prison, and it reiterated its call for
his immediate release.
"We call on the Cuban authorities
to give him all the treatment he needs in
order to recover quickly," the organisation
said, adding that it also called on the
European Union to maintain pressure on the
government to obtain the release of all
the journalists imprisoned in Cuba.
Although seven journalists, including the
well-known poet and dissident Raúl
Rivero were freed in 2004, the press freedom
situation in Cuba continues to be "catastrophic,"
Reporters Without Borders said.
With 22 journalists still detained, Cuba
is the world's second biggest prison for
the press after China (with 26 held). The
only news media allowed to operate in Cuba
are the official media, which are deemed
to be "in the exclusive service of
the working people."
The head of the Colegio de Periodistas
Independientes de Camagüey independent
news agency, Hernández was reportedly
transferred to the Pinar del Río
provincial hospital on 5 January for preventive
treatment for tuberculosis.
His wife, Yaraí Reyes Marín,
was informed of the transfer by another
political prisoner's wife. When she contacted
the hospital, she was not allowed to talk
to her husband.
Hernández also suffers from an ulcer
and acute abdominal pains and has difficulty
taking food and medicine, which complicates
his treatment. He was kept in solitary confinement
from May to September 2004 for demanding
political prisoner status. On 10 September,
he was put with non-political prisoners
of whom some apparently had tuberculosis.
Cuba's imprisoned journalists do not always
receive the medical treatment they need.
Pablo Pacheco Avila of the independent news
agency CAPI reported in November that the
authorities refused to hand over the medicine
which his family sent him for his high blood
pressure and heart problems.
Hernández was arrested on 24 March
2003 along with 74 other dissidents, 26
of them journalists, and was sentenced to
25 years in prison on 4 April 2004. A total
of 14 of the 75 have since been released.
Enero
05 / Ingresado Normando Hernández para tratamiento
antituberculoso
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