By THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON, June 2 — The Bush administration demanded today that Cuba provide adequate medical attention to Óscar Espinosa Chepe, a dissident
journalist with liver disease. Mr. Chepe, 62, was among 75 writers, economists and human rights activists sentenced to prison this spring in a sweeping
campaign against government critics.

Sentenced to 20 years for treason, Mr. Chepe is being held in eastern Cuba, far from his family and a hospital able to treat his condition, which relatives say is
deteriorating.

A State Department spokesman, Philip T. Reeker, said the Cuban government "appears to be going out of its way" to treat the dissidents inhumanely.

"The United States demands that the Cuban government provide Mr. Chepe with adequate health care and transfer him to a hospital where he can receive the level of care commensurate with his illness," Mr. Reeker said.