Demanding better medical care, Cuban political prisoner goes on fast

One of the great lies of the Cuban revolution is that health care on the island is something special.

It's not, especially in the gulag, and especially if you are a political prisoner. In fact, if you are a political prisoner, chances are the regime will use health care — or more exactly, the lack of access to health care — as a weapon of repression.

Political prisoner Brian Rafael Gómez Gómez is fighting back against that lie.

Using the only weapons at his disposal — his courage and his health — Gómez on June 14 started a fast to demand better medical care for prisoners at the Canaleta prison in Matanzas, according to report from independent journalist Álvaro Yero Felipe.

Gómez, imprisoned after being found to be a "pre-criminal social danger," said that for more than two weeks, he has been suffering from pain in his spine, hip and back. Prison officials have advised that he get some rest because there are no drugs available to relieve his pain nor doctors to attend to inmates.

Gómez told Yero that those are just some of the many problems contributing to health problems among the inmate population at Canaleta.

Gómez said he would end his fast only when he gets to see a doctor, according to Yero's report.