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FROM
CUBA
Cuban
political prisoners at Boniato threaten hunger
strike
HAVANA, Cuba, August 28 (www.cubanet.org) - Six
political prisoners interned at Boniato prison
in Santiago de Cuba threatened to go on a hunger
strike unless prison administrators address their
demand for redress of certain wrongs, and specifically,
set aside a punishment that they call unjustified.
The six addressed their demands in a letter to
the warden, setting a target date of August 31
for a resolution. In the letter, they refer to
a meeting between prison administrators and political
prisoners on June 18, after which they agreed
to solve several problems.
Since then, they say, the situation has worsened
rather than improved. In the letter, the prisoners
cite privacy violations and the dismal state of
prison food. Finally, they cite an incident on
the night of August 13, in which prisoner Normando
Hernández, who was talking with a prisoner
in another cell, was told to shut up and go to
sleep by a prison official. The net result of
the incident, they go on, was that they were punished
with the loss of a nuptial visit to which they
are entitled in November.
Calling the punishment "unjust," the
prisoners say if it isn't lifted, they will go
on a hunger strike August 31. The letter pointed
out that one of them, Nelson A. Aguiar, suffers
from hypoglycemia but will, nevertheless, strike.
In addition to Hernández and Aguiar, the
letter's signers are Juan Carlos Herrera, Manuel
Vázquez Portal, Próspero Gaínza,
and Antonio Villarreal.
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