Cuba's political prisoners must never be forgotten in any discussion about Cuba's future. Before the embargo is lifted or any other accommodation is reached with the dictatorship in Havana, those jailed because of their beliefs, including their opposition to tyranny, must be set free to participate in drawing up the future of the country. It is non-negotiable.
Here are a few reasons why:
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Imprisoned journalist Normando Hernández González, 39, continues to waste away because of his chronic digestive problems, including malabsorption and diarrhea. His wife told journalist José Manuel Caraballo Bravo that Hernández's weight is down to 54.5 kilograms, or about 120 pounds. Hernández, who during the "black spring" of 2003, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, is currently being held in a prison hospital.
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Héctor Raúl Valle Hernández, also rrested during the "black spring" of 2003, remains locked away in a punishment cell at the Guanajay prison. He was sent to the cell — which includes no electric light and no ventilation, and which is infested with rats and insects — on June 26, after he complained publicly about the poor quality of food served to prisoners. Valle, a labor and human rights activist, is serving a 12-year prison term.
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For more than six months, officials at the Jóvenes de Villa Clara prison have blocked Miguel Díaz Bauzá from seeing any doctors, despite needing hernia surgery. Díaz, 65, in 2002, was sentenced to 30 years in prison (although some reports said he got 25 years) after he illegally entered Cuba. He was convicted of "rebellion" and "evasion," and other "acts against state security.
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Political prisoner José Benito Menéndez del Valle complains that numerous prisoners at the Quivicán prison have falled ill to stomach ailments because they have been forced to drink contaminated water. In a letter to independent journalist Belinda Salas Tapanes, Menéndez said the water is dirty and smells, and you clearly can see earthworms swimming in it. Prison officials blame the problem on old pipes, and their general disregard for prison inmates. (OK, I made the last part up, but that doesn't mean it's not true.)
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