Published Thursday, July 12, 2001 .
The Miami Herald
In the pestilent hellholes that are Cuban jails, Bernardo Arévalo
Padrón is the journalist who has languished longest for speaking out.
Since 1997 he has been imprisoned for the singularly Cuban crime of "disrespect.''
His offense: In interviews with Miami radio stations, he suggested that Cuban
farmers went hungry while helicopters brought fresh meat to Cuba's dictator
Fidel Castro.
For a crime that exists only for governments that suffocate criticism, Mr.
Arévalo Padrón was sentenced to six years. The lack of medical
care and desperate conditions have taken a toll on his health. Though eligible
for parole, he's held in El Diamante, a labor camp in Cienfuegos. The place is
made unbearable by the summer heat, humiliations and lack of drinkable water, as
Mr. Arévalo Padrón recently described in a letter to Raul Rivero,
another of Cuba's independent journalists.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, Inter American Press Association and
others have called for Mr. Arévalo Padrón's release. So, too,
should all who support human rights call on Castro to liberate Cuba's political
prisoners.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
