Cuban Prisoners in Hunger Strike

Things continue to go downhill for prisoners of conscience in Cuba.

Pablo Alfonso of El Nuevo Herald reports on a hunger strike that several Cuban prisoners are undergoing as a result of bad treatment in prison.

If you read my post last week on the lack of humanitarian aid given to prisoners, you'll notice a similar theme to this latest report.

Below is the full translated article by yours truly:

Jailed Opposition Members in Prolonged Hunger Strike

By Pablo Alfonso
El Nuevo Herald

Yesterday, prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia spent his 15th day in a hunger strike in protest of the terrible prison conditions he's enduring, denounced his sister Ana Belkis to independent journalists in Cuba.

Ferrer, a leader of Christian Liberation Movememt (MCL), is serving a 25-year sentence imposed as a result of the repressive wave that caused the arrest of 75 opposition members in the spring of 2003.

"He made the determination to take part in the hunger strike after he was transferred to a high-danger detachment of common prisoners in the Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey, and requests that he be transferred again to the special isolation cell where he was for over two years", said his sister, cited by journalist Niurvys Diaz Remond of the independent agency Cubanacán Press, and disseminated by Cubanet.

Meanwhile, today (Thursday), journalist Victor Rolando Arroyo enters the 14th day of his hunger strike. Arroyo is serving a 26-year sentence in the Provincial Prison of Guantanamo.

In that same prison, opposition member Felix Navarro Rodriguez, president of the Democracy Party Pedro Luis Boitel who is serving a 25-year sentence, also declared himself in a hunger strike on September 12th in a show of solidarity with Arroyo. Both, like Ferrer, are part of the "Group of 75".

Arroyo declared himself in a hunger strike due to the bad treatment received by the prisoners in the Guantánamo jail on the part of the guards, headed by an official by the last name of Armesto.

Elsa González Padron and Sonia Alvarez Campillo, spouses of Arroyo and Navarro, respectively, traveled from Pinar del Rio, where they reside, to Guantánamo to present a petition before the Provincial Office of the Public Prosecutor.

During a telephone conversation with Enma Dorta of the Municipalities of Cuba in Exile, Mrs. González said that her husband as well as Navarro have been denied family visits for four months.

"Their isolation is absolute. The denial of mail service, telephone calls, and delivery of medicine continues", emphasized González.

The gesture of both spouses before the Guantanamo prison authorities concluded with a double refusal, indicated independent journalist Saylí Navarro of the Patria Agency: "They cannot see either prisoner of conscience during their hunger strike, nor receive information on their health condition''.

In a note disseminated by Nueva Prensa Cubana in Miami, the reporter, who is the daughter of prisoner Felix Navarro, assured that "Arroyo was hospitalized on Saturday the 17th in critical condition and refuses to be force fed."

Posted by Robert M at September 22, 2005 04:17 PM

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Comments

Posted by: Stefania at September 22, 2005 06:09 PM

Posted by: Bill H at September 22, 2005 06:50 PM