Cuban political prisoner dies in jail

One of the more peculiar presumptions about how the Castro brothers run their prisons, is that they not risk letting a political prisoner die in jail because of poor health. They will abuse them, and deny them treatment for their medical conditions — even though many of them are sick exactly because they are in prison.

But if it looks like there is a chance they will pass, the theory goes, the prisoner is released on medical parole, to spare the regime the embarrassment of a prisoner dying on their watch, and to score points with those who might actually be impressed by such a gesture.

If the theory is true, I guess the regime didn't respond quickly enough to the deteriorating health of political prisoner Geovany Figueroa Rodríguez.

Independent journalist Yoel Espinosa Medran reports that Figueroa, 28, died Aug. 3, at the Nieves Morejón prison, after officials failed to provide him with proper treatment of his high blood pressure. (Based on some information in the story, I suspect Figueroa died Sept. 3, not Aug. 3). A few days before his death, Figueroa asked medical officials for help, but he was told that the prison had no pharmaceuticals to give him, according to the story, posted at Payo Libre.

The "wonderful" Cuban health care system failed him, too.

Figueroa, a member of the Pedro Luís Boitel Political Prisoner Association , was serving a 3-year prison sentence, after he was convicted of the supposed "crime" of being a "pre-determined social danger" — a weapon of choice for the dictatorship when it wants to silence its opponents.

I could not find any previous mentions of Figueroa on the Internet, including the date he was jailed.

With a lack of previous attention like that, I guess the dictatorship felt it was OK to let him die.