25 January 2013

If You Thought Life Was Bad in Cuba for the Ordinary José- Wait 'til You See the Prisons

'Slave-like conditions, dismantling cars...'


While the communist Castro regime likes to complain loudly about US activities at Gitmo -both real and imagined- maybe first they ought to answer a few questions about how they've been treating all the Cuban citizens locked-up down there...

 Of course, many of them were put in the slammer for dubious political offenses -like daring to complain about Cuban socialism's myriad failures- with 7000+ arrested just last year for peaceful political protest. But for any in the States who think Havana's liberalizing, hardly: a human rights group reported this week that the overall number of political prisoners still held in Cuban prisons has recently doubled... and farm animals are treated better.

Combinado Del Este prison's crumbling hospital wing

A clandestine communications network on the island is now getting the word out re. life behind bars at thes notorious Combinado del Este prison east of Havanna- in a word, yikes:

 Babalú:

 It is bad enough to be a regular citizen of Cuba, where everything is owned by the State, including the most fundamental human rights. But when you are an inmate in a Castro prison, the situation gets considerably worse...

Via Punt de Vista (my translation):
Inmates denounce 16-hour work days at
Combinado del Este prison:

The Cuban Network of Community Communicators reports that inmates at the Combinado del Este prison are denouncing slave-like conditions where they are forced to work dismantling cars for the regime. 

In their denouncement they describe workdays that last as long as 16 hours, they are fed substandard food, and no medical attention. 

The authorities at the prison, which the inmates describe as complicit and corrupt, have full knowledge of what is taking place and it "allows them to sell the individual parts of the vehicles they take apart." There are approximately 4,000 inmates at the Combinado del Este...


















Extensive first-hand, inside account of
life inside Combinado Del Este -here-