Cuba: The State of Political Prisoners

The Government of Cuba's March 2003 sentencing of 75 pro-democracy advocates to up to 28 years in prison constitutes the most severe crackdown on Cuban dissidents in over two decades, marking a worrisome deterioration in Cuba’s human rights policies. As if the convictions do not violate human rights sufficiently, the atrocious prison conditions, under which the prisoners of conscience serve out their sentences, add yet more violations to Cuba's list of human rights abuses. Contaminated water, rancid food, poor hygiene, and little to no access to medical services are just some of abuses to which the prisoners are subjected.

Many inmates have either developed serious health problems while in jail or have experienced a worsening of preexisting health conditions due to the lack of sanitation and medical services in prisons. While serving his sentence at a prison in the city of Guantánamo, economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe lay on the verge of death after being refused medical treatment for liver cirrhosis and hypertension. Only after intense international pressure did Cuban authorities transfer him to a prison hospital at Boniato, 475 miles from his home in Havana. The medical facilities at this prison are far from ideal and his wife continues to demand that he be transferred to a hospital in Havana.

At Manto Negro Women’s Prison, Martha Beatriz Roque suffers from high blood pressure, circulatory problems and severe weight loss; she has also been denied appropriate medical treatment.

Many others, including Raúl Rivero, Jorge Olivera, and Roberto de Miranda, also suffer from medical ailments resulting from improper care.

Prisoners’ personal accounts tell of rat and insect infestation, beatings, infrequent access to light, sweltering and freezing temperatures, and solitary confinement. The fact that inmates have been sent to prisons averaging a distance of approximately 248 miles away from their places of residence constitutes an egregious burden for prisoners’ families, who must bear the expense and hardship of traveling long distances only for brief (sometimes as short as 5 minutes) visits.

Several inmates, such as Víctor Rolando Arroyo and Oscar Elías Biscet González, continue to protest human rights injustices from within prison and have consequently been sent to punishment cells in which they are forced to sleep on the floor of tiny cells with inadequate lighting and ventilation. José Daniel Ferrer García began a hunger strike May 21, 2003 to protest the prison authorities’ refusal to grant him medical treatment for acute amebas resulting from the prison’s contaminated water.

The international reaction to these human rights abuses has been one of indignation. Many have joined the United States in promoting political freedom in Cuba. The European Union, for example, has taken significant steps to pressure the Cuban government to reform by imposing diplomatic sanctions.