Cuban political prisoner Normando Hernández González early Friday was transferred from the Kilo 7 prison in Camagüey to the Carlos J. Finlay military hospital in Havana, for what his wife called a "general checkup," according to a story by independent journalist Tania Maceda Guerra, posted at Payo Libre.
Hernández, imprisoned since 2003, has plenty for the doctors to work with. The 37-year-old journalist, who is serving a 25-year sentence, suffers from a variety of gastrointestinal ailment, malnutrition, spinal problems, hypertension and loss of vision. He also has tested positive for tuberculosis.
I have no faith that the Cuban government will do the right thing, but maybe the doctors will find enough wrong with Hernández to cause the dictatorship to worry he might die in prison. And as a result, grant him a medical parole. A handful of others arrested during the "black spring" of 2003 have received similar reprieves, and if anyone still in prison qualifies based on his poor health, it is Hernández.
Sign petition for release of Cuban political prisoners
