(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed serious concern about the state of health of two independent journalists and four other dissidents who began a hunger strike on 18 October 2003 in the Holguín provincial penitentiary in central Cuba to protest the transfer of Iván Hernández Carrillo, another independent journalist, to a “punishment cell” the previous day. […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed serious concern about the state of health of two independent journalists and four other dissidents who began a hunger strike on 18 October 2003 in the Holguín provincial penitentiary in central Cuba to protest the transfer of Iván Hernández Carrillo, another independent journalist, to a “punishment cell” the previous day.
The hunger strikers are journalists Adolfo Fernández Sainz and Mario Enrique Mayo and dissidents Antonio Díaz Sánchez, Alfredo Domínguez Batista, Angel Moya Acosta and Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique.
“This new hunger strike is prompted by the deplorable conditions in which journalists and prisoners of conscience are being held,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. Relatives of fellow detainees said Hernández Carrillo was put in a punishment cell for protesting the prison authorities’ refusal to give him the treatment he needs for his high blood pressure. Several imprisoned journalists have complained about the lack of medical treatment. Fernández Sainz, Mayo and Hernández Carrillo had previously staged a hunger strike, in August, to protest prison conditions.
RSF is also concerned about Claudia Márquez Linares, the editor of the bimonthly dissident magazine “De Cuba” and an RSF correspondent. According to information received by the organisation, she was at the home of Laura Pollán, the wife of imprisoned journalist Hector Maseda Gutiérrez, on 29 October when security agents arrived and threatened to arrest her for “contempt” if she refused to come with them. They said they just wanted to “chat” with her for a few hours.
“De Cuba” stopped publishing after the March arrest of its founders, Ricardo González and Raul Rivero, but Márquez Linares managed to publish a new issue on 1 October. “By harassing her now, the authorities are again trying to put an end to the circulation of independent news and information,” said RSF.
Hunger strikers Fernández Sainz and Mayo are serving sentences of 15 and 20 years, respectively. Like Hernández Carrillo, Fernández Sainz worked for the independent news agency Patria. He was also a correspondent for the Russian human rights news agency PRIMA News. Mayo worked for the independent news agency Félix Varela. The other hunger strikers, Díaz Sánchez, Domínguez Batista, Moya Acosta and Ramos Lauzurique, are serving terms of 20, 14, 20 and 18 years, respectively.
Domínguez Batista’s wife, Melba Santana, and Mayo’s wife, Maidelin Guerra, went to the prison on 27 October and were met by a prison official who told them Hernández Carrillo was being punished for showing disrespect to a guard. Under the prison rules, the punishment could last for three months. He could then be transferred to another prison. According to Santana, a “punishment cell” is very small, with no light or ventilation.
Santana said her husband and the five others are continuing their hunger strike because none of them were allowed to phone their families on 28 October. These calls are only permitted when they “respect the rules”. Fernández Sainz’s wife, Julia Nuñez, is worried about her husband’s health. She said he already seemed very thin the last time she was allowed to see him on 7 October. She will not be allowed to make another visit until 3 January 2004.
On 15 August, Fernández Sainz, Mayo and Hernández Carrillo launched an earlier hunger strike to demand that inmates with chronic illnesses receive medication and an adequate diet. They called off the strike on 25 August when the authorities agreed to provide Mayo with a diet appropriate to his state of health. Fernández Sainz lost 15 kilogrammes during the strike.
Independent journalists Manuel Vázquez Portal, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta and Normando Hernández González, who are in Boniatico prison in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, also began a hunger strike on 31 August to protest prison conditions. As a result, they were transferred to another prison.
Cuba is now the world’s largest prison for journalists, with 30 currently detained. Twenty-six of them were arrested in March, along with 50 dissidents, in an unprecedented crackdown. In RSF’s worldwide ranking of 166 countries according to respect for press freedom, released on 20 October, Cuba was in 165th position, ahead only of North Korea.
