Imprisoned Cuban Dissidents Said to Be Seriously Ill, Living in Inhumane Conditions

By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY -- At least 20 Cuban dissidents, part of a group of 75 journalists, librarians and economists arrested nearly a year ago,
are seriously ill in Cuban prison cells where they are being held under inhumane conditions, according to their wives, friends and human
rights activists in Cuba.

"They are killing these people," said Miriam Leiva, whose imprisoned husband, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, is suffering from advanced
cirrhosis of the liver. Espinosa, 63, an economist sentenced to 20 years for criticizing Fidel Castro's economic policies, is being held in a
cell on the grounds of a military hospital in Havana, Leiva said. She said his cell had no windows or running water and the lights were
kept on 24 hours a day. He has lost 40 pounds, is unable to eat and has a fungal infection covering his legs, she said.

"I am convinced he was taken out of our little house for a death sentence, which is supposed to be very slow and painful," Leiva, who is
allowed to visit one hour a month, said in a telephone interview. "I don't know if I will be able to see him tomorrow, or next month, or if
they will just come to me and say, 'You may come and visit his grave.' "

Castro's government rounded up the 75 dissidents last March and charged them with conspiring with the United States to subvert the
Cuban government.

The dissidents, many of them in their fifties and sixties, were convicted in trials condemned as shams by lawmakers and religious and
human rights groups. They were given sentences of up to 28 years.

The reasons for the crackdown have never been made clear, though many observers noted that Castro moved to silence his critics while
the world's attention was focused on the war in Iraq.

The crackdown has damaged Cuba's relations with friendly nations, particularly in Europe, and has cost the island desperately needed
tourism revenue and foreign investment. But Castro's government has remained defiant about the arrests, saying the dissidents were on
the payroll of the U.S. government, which U.S. officials deny.

Information about prison conditions faced by the dissidents comes in letters from prison, occasional phone calls and family visits. The International Committee of the
Red Cross, rights groups and journalists have not been granted access to the prisons.

Cuban officials in Washington and Havana did not respond to telephone messages seeking comment about the prisoners. But in telephone interviews this week with
family members who have visited the dissidents in prison and with human rights activists in Cuba who monitor the situation, a picture emerged of inhumane prison
conditions and continued harassment of the dissidents' families by Cuban security agents.

"The situation is getting worse every day," Vladimiro Roca, a dissident writer released from prison in 2002, said from his Havana home. "When I was a prisoner, the
conditions were inhuman, but it's nothing compared to what they are going through now."

Elizardo Sanchez, who heads the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said about half of the 75 activists remain in "punishment cells,"
which he said are about three feet wide and six feet long, have no windows, little ventilation and no running water. He said prisoners are subjected to extreme heat in
the summer and year-round infestation by insects and rats.

"These jails are like concentration camps," Sanchez said. "There is no doubt that this is a deliberate policy of extreme cruelty on the part of the state."

Roca, Sanchez and leading activist Oswaldo Paya said that about 20 of the jailed dissidents were suffering from such serious health problems as kidney disease,
diabetes, cirrhosis, hypertension, heart disease and extreme weight loss. The State Department and human rights groups have appealed to Castro's government to
immediately release the most gravely ill prisoners, "but it's been a complete stonewall by the government on this issue," said Eric Olson, the Americas advocacy
director for Amnesty International in Washington.

Sanchez said five prisoners had been hospitalized. He said Espinosa is in the same hospital with Martha Beatriz Roque, a dissident economist sentenced to 20 years,
who is suffering from diabetes, ulcers, high blood pressure and is paralyzed on one side of her face. He said two men who had heart attacks before being
imprisoned, Roberto de Miranda and Orlando Fundora, are suffering worsening heart disease and have been moved to prison hospital wards. Julio Antonio Valdes,
who needs a kidney transplant because prison conditions have further damaged his already weak kidneys, is in a prison ward in a Havana hospital, Sanchez said.

Many of the sick prisoners remain without medical treatment in what Paya called "medieval cages." Luis Enrique Ferrer, 25, an activist sentenced to 28 years for his
work with Paya on the Varela Project, a petition drive seeking greater freedoms in Cuba, has an untreated fungal infection all over his body, Paya said.

Journalist and poet Raul Rivero, 58, perhaps the best known of the dissidents, has lost 71 pounds in the first year of his 20-year sentence, said his wife, Blanca
Reyes. "Every day I feel more helpless and indignant," she said.

Paya said state security agents had threatened other Varela supporters recently. He said 25,000 signatures had been submitted to the government, and Varela
supporters are organizing a series of grass-roots meetings around the country to discuss "how the Cuban people can build their own justice, democracy and liberty."
He said the government is threatened by growing participation in the Varela Project.

"I would like to make an appeal to the world's conscience," Paya said. "It seems like there is a lot of indifference about the reality of human rights in Cuba."

                                               © 2004