In her own words, Maritza Pelegrino, the widow of murdered Cuban human rights activist Wilmar Villar Mendoza, describes the vile brutality of the Castro dictatorship.

Via Penúltimos Días (my translation):

"They would leave him naked and handcuffed. They would lay him down on a bed handcuffed. Since he refused to wear the uniform of a common prisoner, they would forcibly put it on him and then wrap his body in chains so he could not take it off. They mistreated him, they beat him, and he told me in their presence (the jailers) that they had denied him water."

She affirmed that several times she asked the officials at Aguadores to take her husband to the hospital.

"They told me that they were not going to give him any medical attention, that if he died, his would be just another death; that if he did not eat, that was his problem, not theirs."

According to Pelegrino, on one occasion she refused to leave the prison until Villar Mendoza was given medical treatment.

"They told me 'you can stay here as long you like, we don't care.' When night came, three Ladies in White who had accompanied me were apprehended and dragged outside (out of the prison). Me, I was left in a bus station, luckily, with my two girls at 3 AM."