Hope he prevails

A former political prisoner says he was tortured, sues Castro for $50 million.

By CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press
Posted September 15 2005, 3:30 PM EDT

MIAMI -- A former political prisoner in Cuba, who says he was repeatedly tortured with drugs and electric shocks, sued Fidel Castro's government Thursday for $50 million in damages in a case aimed partly at exposing what Castro opponents call his brutality toward dissidents.

Nilo Jerez said in court papers that the torture in the early 1970s made him sterile and continues to cause ``distress, anxiety, fear and apprehension.''

``It is time to have justice,'' Jerez told reporters outside the Miami-Dade County Courthouse after filing the lawsuit.

Jerez, a vocal opponent of Castro's government, said he was tortured during a three-month incarceration at a Havana psychiatric hospital called Mazorra where other political dissidents were kept. A former nurse at that hospital, Eriberto Mederos, who had moved to Florida was convicted in 2002 in federal court of illegally obtaining U.S. citizenship. He had concealed his role in torturing prisoners, including Jerez, but he died before he was sentenced.

``Regular torture sessions included forced drug injections and electroshock whereby electricity was passed through terminals into Mr. Jerez's head and his testicles causing severe pain and ultimately leading to the loss of bodily functions and conciousness,'' the lawsuit says.

One of Jerez's attorneys, John Gaebe, acknowledged that even if he wins the case it will be difficult to collect any money from Cuba or identify Cuban assets overseas that might be seized to pay the judgment. But he said the lawsuit is also aimed at reminding people that there are hundreds more Cuban dissidents like Jerez who say they suffered for their political views.

``It's an effort to bring justice to Mr. Jerez, but it's also an effort to shine a light on what is going on in Cuba,'' Gaebe said. Officials with the Cuban Government Interests Section in Washington, which represents Castro's government in the United States, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

The U.S. State Department has repeatedly condemned Cuba for repressing dissent and criticized the conditions under which political prisoners are held. ``The Castro government has long waged war on the basic human rights of its people,'' the department said in a recent report to Congress.

Jerez, who now lives in Miami, said he began protesting against Castro's government in 1964 at the age of 15, just five years after Castro came to power. He said he was arrested and sent to a labor camp, then sentenced to 25 years in prison after attempting to escape.

Nonetheless, he was released in 1970 and, after he soon resumed speaking out against Castro, was sent to the Mazorra hospital where the staff wore military uniforms and frequently threatened prisoners with execution by firing squad, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit names the government of Cuba as well as Castro and his brother and top defense official Raul Castro.

(H/T Mike Pancier)

Posted by George Moneo at September 16, 2005 08:17 AM

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