Havana/The NGO Cubalex reports that during the first half of this year, some 34 deaths were confirmed in the custody of the Cuban State. Four of them are political prisoners, whom he identified as Ernesto Brieva Sempé, Roberto Álvarez Ávila, Luis Miguel Oña Jiménez and Lázaro García Ríos. “People deprived of liberty for political reasons are usually exposed to higher levels of arbitrariness, reprisals and violations of rights within penitentiary centers and other institutions under state custody,” says Cubalex in a report, published this Thursday.
This group faces “more severe” confinement conditions, the organization continues, as well as “additional restrictions on contact with their families and lawyers,” in addition to “prolonged isolation, punitive transfers, denial or deliberate delay of medical care.” The report indicates that the provinces with the highest concentration of deaths of people in the custody of the Cuban State are Guantánamo, with nine deaths, followed by Havana (6) and Santiago de Cuba (5).
The data “represents under-reporting and that the real number of deaths may be significantly higher due to the lack of transparency” of the regime
Cubalex clarifies that the data “represents an under-record and that the real number of deaths may be significantly higher due to the lack of transparency” of the island’s regime. In addition, it criticizes “the absence of official statistics and the restrictions on access to public information”, while drawing attention to the fear of families to reveal these facts due to possible reprisals.
The deaths recorded up to June 30, the NGO concludes, show “the persistence of serious human rights violations in penitentiary centers, police stations, detention institutions and other spaces of deprivation of liberty.” Likewise, the organization reiterates that those in custody “are completely dependent on the authorities” responsible for guaranteeing physical integrity, access to medical care, as well as conditions compatible with “human dignity.”
Last Monday, Cubalex disclosed the cases of two common prisoners whose age is unknown and who died at the beginning of July in the provincial prison of Guantánameither. The first, Jorge Luis Iglesias Rodríguez, died as a result of a prostate infection. Furthermore, in June he had been diagnosed with tuberculosis, while he was held in detachment 4A of the prison.
As for Rolando Yunior Rodríguez Torres, the NGO explained that he died after spending a month in the hospital, after having ingested an overdose of medication in the penitentiary center with the intention of committing suicide. According to the report, the authorities did not provide him with medical attention in time. “Only when his condition was critical did they decide to transfer him to a hospital, a recurring maneuver to evade institutional responsibility before death,” he noted.
