The best sources of information about conditions in the Castro gulag are the prisoners themselves, especially those who worked as journalists before they were imprisoned because of their politics, and their desire to work and live in a free country. Despite the injustices committed against them and their own difficulties behind bars, they continue to work to inform the world of the Cuban reality today.
In two separate postings by independent journalist María Antonia Hidalgo Mir on Payo Libre this evening, political prisoner Alfredo Dominguez Batista describes conditions at El Típico Viejo prison in Las Tunas: The food is scare and bad; it only worsens the gastritis suffered by many prisoners. And at night, there is no doctor on duty to treat prisoners who might need immediate attention.
The second report is even more disturbing, as Dominguez has compiled a set of grim statistics about the prisons in Las Tunas province over the past 5 years:
- About 100 prisoners have lost at least one limb to amputation.
- About 50 prisoners have attempted suicide.
- Five prisoners have died have died from poisoning with psychotropic drugs and other chemicals.
- About 20 have died in fights.
Others have died after assaults by guards, according to Dominguez.
"I do not want to imagine what has happened in this country over these 50 years," he said.
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