|
Cuba's
Political Prisoners
Free Them From Inhuman Prison Conditions
Posted on Mon, Aug. 04, 2003 in The
Miami Herald.
It is contemptible that the Cuban regime imprisons
people for activities such as speaking their minds,
meeting with others or using typewriters. Yet
the regime compounds its discredited policies
with cruel inhumanity. It withholds medical treatment,
denies family visits and subjects prisoners to
subhuman conditions. The international community
must continue to insist that Cuba release these
political prisoners.
The treatment of Martha Beatriz Roque, 57, the
only woman among 75 dissidents convicted in a
March crackdown, exemplifies what is happening.
She was taken from her cell to a military hospital
on July 24 suffering from high blood pressure
and chest pains. Her sentence is 20 years for
''conspiring'' with a foreign power. Her crime?
Speaking the truth about Cuba's moribund economy
and totalitarian government.
Held at the notorious Manto Negro prison, Ms.
Roque -- coauthor of the dissident manifesto,
The Homeland Belongs to Us All -- has been kept
in solitary confinement with no access to sunlight,
according to Havana independent journalist Angel
Polanco. She refused to drink filthy prison water
and subsisted on water provided by her niece in
monthly visits. Rats and cockroaches infested
her cell, and her body was covered by an allergic
rash.
Such prison conditions aren't unusual. Contaminated
water and filthy cells are standard issue. Prisoners
are moved hundreds of miles from home, turning
family visits into odysseys. Visits then are permitted
at the whim of prison authorities.
o Dr. Oscar Eliás Biscet hasn't been allowed
to see his wife, Elsa Morejón, since April.
He's jailed in a ''punishment'' cell for refusing
to wear prison garb and is denied care packages
and visits. His mosquito bites have become infected
due to the intense heat, and he suffers a chronic
infection in his mouth from lack of treatment.
o Independent journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe,
62, who has severe liver disease, has deteriorated
dramatically since being imprisoned and reportedly
is close to death.
o Little is known of the condition of human-rights
activist Leonardo Miguel Bruzón, who suffers
numerous ailments due to prison treatment and
repeated hunger strikes. After 17 months in detention,
he has yet to be charged with a crime.
Amnesty International rightly reaffirmed last
weekthat the 75 dissidents are prisoners of conscience.
It also noted that, "Neither the U.S. embargo
nor any other aspect of U.S. foreign or economic
policy can be used to justify grave violations
of fundamental rights by the Cuban authorities.''
International condemnation can make a difference.
Countries that support human rights -- especially
Caribbean and Latin American countries -- must
call for the regime to end this cruel and inhumane
treatment of people who never would be imprisoned
in a free country.
|
