URGENT HEALTH APPEAL for seven of Cuba's library prisoners, one near death
Steve Marquardt
serious health problems. You can help them by appealing for their
release, their humane treatment and access to needed medical care.
This week marks the 7th anniversary of the 2003 sentencing of 26
persons who had established independent libraries to prison terms
averaging 19 years. Ten have been released, mainly for health
reasons. Sixteen remain in prison, of whom seven are in very poor
health, with one near death.
Please copy -- and perhaps put into your own words -- this appeal for
the seven described below.
I'm suggesting copying individuals at the ALA International Relations
Office and committees because the most recent statement on the Cuban
prisoners of conscience is the July 27, 2004 letter from the
International Relations Committee Chair who asked not for the
prisoners' release, but closed with this sentence: "We thank you very
much for your attention and assistance to ensure the health and
welfare of these detained individuals." Cuba has dismally failed to
honor this hopeful expectation of compliance with international
standards and common decency.
Please write on behalf of these prisoners as soon as possible.
Steve R. Marquardt, Ph.D.
ALA Member since 1974
South Dakota State University Dean of Libraries Emeritus
Amnesty International Legislative Coordinator for Minnesota
9383 123rd Avenue SE
Lake Lillian, Minnesota 56253-4700
SAMPLE LETTER TO THE HEAD OF CUBA'S PRISON SYSTEM:
7 April 2010
General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra
Ministro de Interior y Prisiones
Ministerio del Interior y Prisiones
Plaza de la Revolución
La Habana, Cuba
Señor Ministro,
I write to bring your attention to very serious health problems
experienced by seven prisoners under your care. My concern for these
individuals is the result of the efforts that I have made in my own
career as a librarian, to provide library services similar to those
that these nonviolent prisoners of conscience provided from the
libraries that they established in their neighborhoods and for which
they have been deprived of liberty.
Ariel Sigler Amaya, General Pedro Betancourt Avalos Library
Ariel Sigler Amaya is dying because of the poor prison conditions and
lack of medical treatment and has left him emaciated and in a
wheelchair. In March of this year he was reported to be expelling
large amounts of blood from his rectum due to the advanced state of
his hemorrhoids. He is coughing up pieces of putrid green and yellow
with a lot of stench; he has intense pain in his throat, digestive
tract, esophagus and stomach; intense suffering and great pain in the
pelvis and bladder when he urinates, he suffers from dizziness, severe
headaches, he is very pale yellow, weak, his legs are blackened and
dried and he remains bed ridden … According to doctors they can not
intervene surgically for the hemorrhoids or tonsillitis in his throat,
because he would not survive in his state of weakness and severity.
Victor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, Reyes Magos Library (Pinar del Río)
Arroyo Carmona is diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary
emphysema. He has protested a lack of medical attention, unsanitary
cell conditions, cruel treatment, and obstruction of his efforts to
practice religion.
José Luis García Paneque, Carlos J. Finlay Library (Las Tunas)
García Paneque was being held at Las Mangas Prison in Granma province,
according to his wife, Yamilé Llánez Labrada. Although general prison
conditions improved in 2009, she said, García Paneque’s health has
significantly deteriorated in prison. He has been diagnosed with a
kidney tumor, internal bleeding, chronic malnutrition, and pneumonia.
He continues to have digestive problems and suffers from malnutrition.
Ricardo González Alfonso, Jorge Mañach Library (Havana)
González Alfonso, 59, was being held at Havana’s Combinado del Este
Prison, where his small, windowless cell is hot and humid, and the
prison food is poor. As punishment for his refusal to wear a prison
uniform, officials have denied him religious assistance, barred his
family from bringing him clean clothes, and cut family visitation to
once every two months. He suffers from hypertension, arthritis, severe
allergies to humidity and dust, chronic bronchitis, and several
digestive and circulatory problems.
Iván Hernández Carrillo, Juan Gualberto Gómez Library, Branch II
(Matanzas)
Hernández Carrillo is held at Guamajal Prison in Santa Clara province
in 2009 where he suffers from hypertension and gastritis. On April 14,
Hernández Carrillo went on a 10-day hunger strike to protest the
conditions of his imprisonment, his mother, Asunción Carrillo, said.
Prison authorities encouraged other inmates to harass and attack him,
he told his mother.
José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández, Sebastián Arcos Library (Havana
Province)
Izquierdo Hernández is held at the Guanajay Prison in his home
province. Izquierdo Hernández has been diagnosed with severe
depression, digestive ailments, circulatory problems, emphysema, and
asthma.
Fabio Prieto Llorente, Mir Francisco Mulets Library (Neuva Gerona,
Isla de la Juventud)
Prieto Llorente was being held in solitary confinement at El Guayabo
Prison in his home province, his sister, Clara Lourdes Prieto
Llorente, told the Committee to Protect Journalists. In a January 7
letter to Cuban President Raúl Castro Ruz, Fabio said his cell
measured just 10 feet (three meters) by six and a half feet (two
meters), and his meals consisted of spoiled and burned “animal
products.” He has been diagnosed with allergies, emphysema, back
problems, high blood pressure, and depression. He was allowed visits
from two family members every two months, his sister reports. In
February, he waged a hunger strike to call attention to the situation
at El Guayabo.
These nonviolent prisoners of conscience should be released
immediately and unconditionally.
Until such time as they are released, they should have access to
family members and effective medical care. The conditions of their
housing, hygiene and nutrition should be improved to comply with
international standards.
I thank you for your attention to this situation, and I will continue
to follow these cases closely.
Sincerely and respectfully yours,
Copies to:
Michael Dowling, Director
International Relations Office
American Library Association
50 East Huron St.
Chicago, IL 60611
Email: mdow...@ala.org
Professor Beverly P. Lynch, Chair
ALA International Relations Committee
241 GSEIS Bldg
MB 95120
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1520
Email: bpl...@ucla.edu
Patrick Sullivan, Chair
ALA IRC Americas Subcommittee
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Dr.
San Diego, CA 92185
Email: sull...@mail.sdsu.edu
URGENT HEALTH CONCERNS FOR CUBA'S LIBRARY PRISONERS, April 2010
Ariel Sigler Amaya, General Pedro Betancourt Avalos Library
Calle 22 # 1910 e/ 19 y 21, Pedro Betancourt, Matanzas Province
The condition of Ariel Sigler Amaya has been recently reported by
http://freecubafoundation.blogspot.com/2010/03/fcf-held-silent-vigil-for-brothers-to.html
as follows:
Ariel Sigler Amaya is not on a hunger strike, but the treatment by
Cuban officials is killing him little by little. Ariel Sigler Amaya is
dying because of the poor prison conditions and lack of medical
treatment and has left him emaciated and wheel bound which is the
regime's practice of punishing political prisoners who refuse to be
"rehabilitated." Poor prison conditions, the lack of proper nutrition
and medical treatment have generated numerous illnesses causing Ariel
to develop “advanced malnutrition” and weaken him to the point that he
can no longer walk.
In a letter that reached his brother Juan Francisco he states:
"I have infinite desires to continue to live and recover to keep
fighting for my country. I love life and will fight to keep living.
Therefore, never do anything against my health or any action that
violates my life. If something like this happens, from this moment to
accuse Cuban State Security (...) specialized in inducing disease,
delaying treatment for purposes of aggravating diseases and prepare
alleged suicides and deaths." (…) "The same ones who yesterday
repressed and imprisoned me are the ones who have brought me to the
brink of death, and made of me a small pile of bones and skin.
Everyone is well aware of cases like mine, of robust persons,
physically strong and in excellent health, that with the monstrous
methods of state security have died in prisons, hospitals and
psychiatric centers.
A March 1 blog entry from his brother, exiled in the USA, describes
Ariel’s condition:
“Ariel's condition. It is getting worse by the day. He is expelling
large amounts of blood from his rectum due to the advanced state of
his hemorrhoids. He is coughing up pieces of putrid green and yellow
with a lot of stench; he has intense pain in his throat, digestive
tract, esophagus and stomach; intense suffering and great pain in the
pelvis and bladder when he urinates (the urine has a strong stench),
he suffers from dizziness, severe headaches, he is very pale yellow,
weak, his legs are blackened and dried and he remains bed ridden …
According to doctors they can not intervene surgically for the
hemorrhoids or tonsillitis in his throat, because he would not survive
in his state of weakness and severity.”
Dutch visitors to this library, now managed by Ariel’s brother Juan
Francisco Amaya, have reported as follows:
“According to Juan Francisco libraries are crucial for a change in
Cuba. The biggest problem in Cuba is not that there is no information,
but that existing information is manipulated: ‘Cubans are robots not
programmed but uninformed.’ … The situation, according to Juan
Francisco, is only worse since Raúl Castro became president, whom he
called a puppet of Fidel. . . Unfortunately, the collection of books
has become more difficult now, because he is increasingly monitored.
It is also difficult for him to obtain information; his radio is
broken, he has no phone and no access to the Internet.”
The remaining reports are based on news from the Committee to Protect
Journalists at http://cpj.org/imprisoned/2009.php#cuba and the IKV Pax
Christi Nederland “Boeken voor Cuba” web pages:
Victor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, Reyes Magos Library (Pinar del Río)
Imprisoned: March 18, 2003
Arroyo Carmona, also a journalist for the independent news agency
Unión de Periodistas y Escritores de Cuba Independientes in his home
province of Pinar del Río, was handed a 26-year prison sentence for
acting “against the independence or the territorial integrity of the
state” under Article 91 of the penal code in April 2003.
Arroyo Carmona was being held at the Kilo 5½ Prison, his wife, Elsa
González Padrón, told CPJ. The journalist, who was housed in a hall
with at least 130 prisoners, waged a hunger strike in May to protest
prison conditions, news reports said. Arroyo Carmona—who had been
diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary emphysema—
protested a lack of medical attention, unsanitary cell conditions,
cruel treatment, and obstruction of his efforts to practice religion.
At least three other political prisoners joined him in his protest.
José Luis García Paneque, Carlos J. Finlay Library (Las Tunas)
Imprisoned: March 18, 2003
A physician by profession, García Paneque, 43, joined the independent
news agency Libertad in 1998 after being fired from his job at a
hospital in eastern Las Tunas because of his political views. In April
2003, a Cuban court sentenced him to 24 years in prison after he was
convicted of acting “against the independence or the territorial
integrity of the state” under Article 91 of the Cuban penal code.
García Paneque was being held at Las Mangas Prison in Granma province,
according to his wife, Yamilé Llánez Labrada. Although general prison
conditions improved in 2009, she said, her husband still shared a
small cell with several other inmates and complained of difficulty
sleeping. García Paneque’s parents visited him every 45 days, his wife
told CPJ; she and her children, who moved to Texas in 2007, talked to
him on the phone monthly.
García Paneque’s health has significantly deteriorated in prison. He
has been diagnosed with a kidney tumor, internal bleeding, chronic
malnutrition, and pneumonia. Llánez Labrada told CPJ that her husband
continued to have digestive problems and suffered from malnutrition.
Ricardo González Alfonso, Jorge Mañach Library (Havana)
Calle 11 # 78, Apartment 2, E y entre Fonts, Reparto Lawton
Municipio 10 de Octubre, La Habana
Imprisoned: March 18, 2003
Reporter Daniel Schweimler stated on the BBC Meridian Writing radio
program May 1, 2002 (www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/
meridw.shtml): “Ricardo Gonzalez has about two thousand books in his
home in the West of Havana.”
The Cuban government confiscated González Alfonso’s books, as reported
by Dutch tourists who visited his wife Alida Viso Bello: “He had a
pretty large independent library, perhaps the largest in Cuba.
However, Alida cannot regain [possession of] his books for her house,
so she opted to re-start a library. Currently, there are not really
many books and she dares not even call it a library, but new books are
heartily welcomed!”
González Alfonso, also a poet and screenwriter, began reporting for
Cuba’s independent press in 1995. He founded the award-winning
newsmagazine De Cuba and a Havana-based association of journalists,
and then worked as a freelance reporter and Cuba correspondent for the
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders. He was
taken into custody on March 18, 2003. In April, the Havana Provincial
Tribunal found him guilty of violating Article 91 of the Cuban penal
code for “acts against the independence or the territorial integrity
of the state,” and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. That June, the
People’s Supreme Tribunal Court upheld his conviction.
González Alfonso, 59, was being held at Havana’s Combinado del Este
Prison, a two-hour car ride from his family home in the capital, his
sister, Graciela González-Degard, told CPJ. His small, windowless
cell, she said, was hot and humid, and the prison food was poor. As
punishment for his refusal to wear a prison uniform, officials denied
him religious assistance, barred his family from bringing him clean
clothes, and cut family visitation to once every two months.
González-Degard, who lives in New York but visited her brother in
August, told CPJ that he was in good health and spirits, though he
suffered from hypertension, arthritis, severe allergies to humidity
and dust, chronic bronchitis, and several digestive and circulatory
problems. During her three-week visit to Havana, she was followed and
harassed by state security agents, she said. She also told CPJ that
González Alfonso’s two teenage sons had lost employment opportunities
as a result of his imprisonment.
Léster Luis González Pentón, Jorge Mas Canosa Independent Library
(Santa Clara)
Imprisoned: March 18, 2003
A court in the central province of Villa Clara sentenced independent
librarian and freelance reporter González Pentón in April 2003 to 20
years in prison under Article 91 of the Cuban penal code for acting
against “the independence or the territorial integrity of the state.”
The youngest of the imprisoned Cuban journalists, González Pentón, 32,
was being held in 2009 at La Pendiente Prison in the northern city of
Santa Clara, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. González
Pentón suffered from stomach problems, according to Laura Pollán
Toledo, a human rights activist and wife of imprisoned journalist
Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez. He was allowed occasional visits to his home
for good behavior, she said.
Iván Hernández Carrillo, Juan Gualberto Gómez Library, Branch II
(Matanzas)
Calle Mesa # 32, e/ San José y Concha, Colón CP 42400
Imprisoned: March 18, 2003
The Afro-Cuban Hernández Carrillo, also a reporter for the independent
news agency Patria in the western city of Colón, was sentenced in
April 2003 to 25 years in prison under Law 88 for the Protection of
Cuba’s National Independence and Economy. Among his entire library
collection that the court ordered to be incinerated was a biography of
Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1992, Iván had been given a two-year prison
sentence for allegedly “distributing enemy propaganda and
disrespecting Fidel Castro.”
Hernández Carrillo, 38, was being held at Guamajal Prison in Santa
Clara province in 2009. He suffered from hypertension and gastritis.
On April 14, Hernández Carrillo went on a 10-day hunger strike to
protest the conditions of his imprisonment, his mother, Asunción
Carrillo, said. Prison authorities encouraged other inmates to harass
and attack him, he told his mother.
His mother made the following comments to Dutch visitors to this
library: “It is striking and also hopeful that people who are not
openly opposed to the regime come to borrow political books, in the
eyes of the regime ‘subversive’ books,” she says. “These are people
who have mounting doubts about Castro's leadership.” The library
plays an important role in raising awareness of people and through
books; we can open people's eyes.”
José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández, Sebastián Arcos Library (Havana
Province)
Imprisoned: March 19, 2003
Izquierdo Hernández, who is also a reporter in western Havana for the
independent news agency Grupo de Trabajo Decoro, was sentenced in
April 2003 to 16 years in prison for acting “against the independence
or the territorial integrity of the state” under Article 91 of the
penal code. Following an appeal the next month, the People’s Supreme
Tribunal Court upheld his conviction. In 2009, he was being held at
the Guanajay Prison in his home province.
Izquierdo Hernández was diagnosed with severe depression, digestive
ailments, circulatory problems, emphysema, and asthma, according to
Laura Pollán Toledo, wife of fellow imprisoned journalist Héctor
Maseda Gutiérrez.
Fabio Prieto Llorente, Mir Francisco Mulets (Neuva Gerona, Isla de la
Juventud)
Imprisoned: March 19, 2003
From a report of Dutch visitors to his library:
“There are not many more visitors since the arrest of Fabio, because
people from the village have become afraid. Afraid to be seen with
relatives of a convicted dissident. We also have to pass through the
back door when leaving the apartment, guided by a son of Clara who is
not classified as a state suspect. He can lead his life just as
before, but his mother and sister suffer much from repression by the
police and the secret service.”
Prieto Llorente was arrested in March 2003 during the massive
crackdown on the Cuban independent press. In April of that year, a
local court sentenced him to 20 years in prison for violating Law 88
for the Protection of Cuba’s National Independence and Economy.
Prieto Llorente was being held in solitary confinement at El Guayabo
Prison in his home province, his sister, Clara Lourdes Prieto
Llorente, told CPJ. In a January 7 letter to Cuban President Raúl
Castro Ruz, he said his cell measured just 10 feet (three meters) by
six and a half feet (two meters), and his meals consisted of spoiled
and burned “animal products.” According to his sister, the journalist
has been diagnosed with allergies, emphysema, back problems, high
blood pressure, and depression. He was allowed visits from two family
members every two months, his sister told CPJ.
In 2009, Prieto Llorente actively reported on and protested prison
conditions. His stories, published on overseas news Web sites,
detailed such issues as the brutal punishment inflicted on other
inmates by prison guards, and the “slave-like” work that authorities
imposed on prisoners. In February, he waged a hunger strike to call
attention to the situation at El Guayabo, the Miami-based news Web
site Payolibre reported.