“The Cuban regime is an abject, criminal, fascist regime and perpetrator of crimes against humanity that enslaves the Cuban people.“, he declared Javier Larrondopresident of Prisoners Defendersduring a conversation with Infobaeafter the publication of the organization’s latest report on political prisoners in Cuba.
In November, the list of political prisoners reached 1,148 casesan increase that responds to the wave of arbitrary arrests during peaceful demonstrations throughout the country. Of that total, 34 are new cases registered only in the last month.
Repression does not distinguish ages or genders: 31 minors have been imprisoned, 29 of them are still serving sentenceswhile the number of detained women amounts to 128including two of trans gender. According to Larrondo, all of these people face torture and mistreatment of “multiple types”while the international community remains “impassive”, he denounced.
The president of Prisoners Defenders He also said that more than 650 detainees suffer from serious pathologiescaused or aggravated by prison conditions. Lack of medical care, hunger and abuse have led to preventable deaths.
“Four political prisoners have died in the last year due to torture and medical negligence. The most recent case is that of Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugaswho died after receiving a brutal beating by the guards at the Combinado del Este prison in Havana,” he said.
He testimony of Larrondo highlights the brutality of the conditions faced by political prisoners in Cuba. According to the president of the NGO, acts of torture in prisons are a constant that has left devastating consequences for the health of detainees.
“We have documented cases of physical torture, extreme hunger, prolonged isolation and psychological violence that are used as tools of repression against political prisoners,” he stated.
One of the most striking cases is that of the just mentioned Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugasa young activist UNPACU who died last November 30 in the Eastern Combined Prisonin Havana. Larrondo related that Manuel “He died after receiving a brutal beating from prison guards.”, an attack so violent that his family was able to identify broken bones, bruises on the back, neck and arms, and serious injuries to the right lung.
“It was a murder”, he denounced; while adding that the victim was serving a six-year sentence “just for having filmed and broadcast videos of the manifestations of July 11, 2021 in Havana.”
Violence is not an isolated case, but rather a widespread practice in Cuban prisons. According to testimonies collected by the organization, in the Combinado del Este prison the Captain Luis Arango Pestanahead of Building Two, has been designated as “one of the most responsible for torture and abuse”.
Larrondo assured that Arango Pestana is the habitual perpetrator of “all kinds of torture” and, according to internal and external sources, would have had a direct role in the death of the aforementioned Guillén Esplugas.
In recent months, the NGO also received complaints about the inhuman conditions in other prisons in the countrylike that of Boniato, in Santiago de Cuba, where 22 inmates died from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and leptospirosis. “These deaths are a direct result of the lack of medical care, shortages and criminal negligence of the regime,” said Larrondo.
Cases of torture, malnutrition and lack of medical care have also left serious psychological consequences. “In Cuban prisons there reigns a repressive environment which destroys not only the body, but also the mind. This is part of a strategy systematic punishment designed to bankrupt the detainees and their families,” he denounced.
The president of Prisoners Defenders stressed that the torture and ill-treatment They not only affect prisoners, but also seek to send a message of intimidation to the rest of the population. “The regime uses fear as a weapon of social control. “He wants everyone who thinks about protesting to know that they can end up in these inhumane conditions,” he said.
The consequences of repression in Cuban prisons go beyond physical abuse: the health of political prisoners is being systematically destroyed.
According to Larrondo“more than 650 political prisoners present serious pathologies,” many of them originated or aggravated by the extreme conditions to which they are subjected. “The lack of food, the constant abuse and the repressive environment not only damage their bodies, but also They leave them in a state of extreme vulnerability to diseases”, he assured.
One of the main complaints of the latest report of Prisoners Defenders focuses on the lack of medical care. Larrondo explains that “Seriously ill people do not receive treatment, prisons lack basic resources and infectious diseases are uncontrolled”.
Furthermore, the impact on mental health of those detained is alarming. “We have verified that at least 70 political prisoners suffer from serious mental disorders”, he indicated.
These problems not only derive from the conditions of incarceration, but also from the psychological torture strategies applied in prisons. “Prolonged isolation, threats against their families and humiliating treatment are used as mechanisms to emotionally break detainees,” he noted.
