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CPJ
alarmed by deteriorating health of Cuban journalist
Committee to
Protect Journalists, August 11, 2003.
New York, August 11, 2003-CPJ is alarmed by the
deteriorating health of imprisoned journalist
Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who was transferred last
week to a military hospital in the capital, Havana.
On Thursday, August 7, Espinosa Chepe became
ill and was taken from a hospital in the eastern
province of Santiago de Cuba to the Finlay Military
Hospital in Havana, according to his wife, independent
journalist Miriam Leiva. Yesterday, August 10,
Leiva visited him for an hour at the hospital.
A state security officer told Leiva that officials
will send her husband back to jail when they deem
it appropriate.
The 62-year-old journalist suffers from several
severe medical conditions, including cirrhosis,
hepatitis, liver failure, and high blood pressure.
Leiva said that Espinosa Chepe also has blood
in his stools, anemia, and parasites.
On April 7, Espinosa Chepe was sentenced to 20
years in prison under Article 91 of the Penal
Code for acting against "the independence
or the territorial integrity of the State"
and for violating Law 88 for the Protection of
Cuba's National Independence and Economy.
In April, Espinosa Chepe was moved from Havana
to a prison in Guantánamo on the opposite
end of the island. Due to his liver conditions-which
Leiva says had been under control before his detention
and imprisonment-and other ailments that have
been exacerbated in jail, the journalist has been
in and out of hospitals during the last four months.
In July, he was transferred to Boniato Prison,
where, despite his poor health, he spent eight
days in solitary confinement.
Prison authorities allow Leiva to see her husband
every three months. She has traveled hundreds
of miles to see him more often, but prison officials
have repeatedly refused to let her visit him.
Leiva fears that her husband may die as a result
of his imprisonment and has unsuccessfully lobbied
Cuban authorities to allow him to serve his prison
sentence at home.
Espinosa Chepe is one of 28 independent Cuban
journalists who were detained in a massive clampdown
on the opposition and the independent press in
March. The journalists remained imprisoned in
several jails administered by the State Security
Department until April 24, when most were sent
to jails located hundreds of miles from their
homes.
"The horrific treatment of Oscar Espinosa
Chepe in jail heightens the injustice that was
done to him when he was imprisoned," said
CPJ deputy director Joel Simon. "He should
be released immediately on humanitarian grounds."
Attacks
on the Press in 2002 (Cuba)
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