Cuban political prisoner Mario Alberto Pérez Aguilera is near death, suffering the effects of a hunger strike he started more than two months ago, according to his sister, the human rights activist Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera.
Mario started his protest Sept. 5 to demand better treatment by his captors, and since Sept. 19, he has refused to even drink water.
Iris said she tried to visit her brother at the Guamajal prison hospital on Monday, Oct. 12, but wasn't allowed to see him, according to a report posted by the Cuban Democratic Directorate.
Numerous opposition groups have rallied in support of Mario Pérez.
"We raise our voices before international human rights protectors for them to intercede in the serious situation facing the imprisoned opposition leader Mario Alberto Pérez Aguilera who ... is hovering between life and death in a filthy hospital," said independent journalist Donaida Pérez Paseiro.
Iris, who is married to former political prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez," and is a veteran human rights activist herself, vowed to continue her vigil on behalf of her brother.
"I'm blaming the Cuban government for what could happen," she said.
Mario Pérez is serving a 10-year prison sentence handed down in 2006. Read my Political Prisoner of the Week profile, here.
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