A Cuban human rights group is sounding the alarm over dangerous tuberculosis outbreaks recorded in five prisons in communist Cuba. The inmates in these prisons are also suffering from malnutrition, multiplying the horrors of the Castro dictatorship’s prisons.
Via Martí Noticias (my translation):
Center for Human Rights warns of tuberculosis outbreak in at least five prisons on the island
The Center for Human Rights in Cuba warns of tuberculosis outbreaks in at least five prisons on the island, where several cases of inmates suffering from malnutrition have also been reported.
In its monthly report for March, the Havana-based organization indicates that cases of tuberculosis have been detected in the prisons of Boniato, in Santiago de Cuba; the Combined of Guantánamo; Las Mangas provincial prison, in Granma; Kilo 8 prison, in Camagüey; and Canaleta prison, in Ciego de Ávila.
“Imagine that there are prisons where an entire unit is dedicated to tuberculosis patients, tuberculosis is a contagious disease, so what they do is isolate them, and this is happening in several places. They don’t have assistance because, first of all, tuberculosis is a disease that requires food, it requires attention, and certainly they are not receiving this attention, it’s a very difficult situation,” commented Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, the supervisor of the center, in an interview with Martí Noticias.
Recently, Cuban political prisoners reported to the Council of Human Rights Reporters of Cuba about malnutrition, lack of medication and medical assistance as well as cases of tuberculosis.
From Las Mangas provincial prison in Bayamo, Yoandri Gutiérrez Vargas said that tuberculosis cases had been isolated in a ward of the prison hospital, while from Boniato prison, Daniel Moreno de la Peña reported that those infected with the disease were in quarantine.
Also in statements to Martí Noticias, Victoria Martínez Valdivia, the mother of one of the young prisoners at the Combined of Guantánamo for the Caimanera protest, stated that floor 2A of that prison was isolated due to tuberculosis cases.
Cuban health authorities have acknowledged that among the most vulnerable to this disease are “contacts of infected people, those who previously had TB or live in places of prolonged internment, those in disadvantaged situations such as the homeless, or with chronic diseases, whether bronchial asthma, renal insufficiency or diabetes mellitus”.
The Ministry of Health of Cuba has indicated that tuberculosis causes cough, night sweats, fever, weight loss, weakness, coughing up blood, as well as swollen lymph nodes and can also manifest as pneumonia, a simple cold, or even a lesion.
At the time of publishing this report, the island’s epidemiological authorities had not made any mention of these reports on the incidence of this disease in prisons.
On the other hand, the Center for Human Rights in Cuba referred in its monthly report to the precarious food situation in prisons where inmates depend on the food that their families can bring every 40 days and where many prisoners in different prisons face degrees of malnutrition, explained Roque Cabello.
“You know that those who work in prisons always take part of the prisoners’ food because there is no one to supervise that, no one to control it, or anything like that, and now at these times, the little they are giving to prisoners is also taken from them. There are places that are giving a meat mixture that no one knows what it’s made of, with a scoop of rice, this is something that has caused prisoners to lose a lot of weight, we have cases of prisoners that we know are precisely in a state of third-degree malnutrition, and they are isolated in different units, but don’t believe that the food is different, it’s just a little bit more,” said the dissident.
Some prisoners like Humberto Paz Gutiérrez, incarcerated in Canaleta prison, and Moreno de la Peña have warned about a worrying weight loss, both are under 95 pounds.
The Documentation Center of Cuban Prisons has warned that “poor nutrition, which affects the body’s defenses, combined with the scarcity and poor quality of water, insect infestations, and poor infrastructure conditions of the prisons” creates an “environment conducive to the proliferation of diseases that often end up being lethal or leaving irreversible consequences”.
In November 2023, representatives of the regime in Havana stated before the United Nations Human Rights Council that “the improvement of the Cuban prison system remained a priority and that numerous measures had been adopted to ensure dignified living conditions, in accordance with international standards”.
The most recent report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Cuba states that the Cuban delegation assured that its own authorities had conducted 6,400 inspections of prison facilities.
One of the main recommendations made during the Periodic Review urges the authorities of the island to ensure full compliance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) and to allow independent human rights observers access to trials and prisons and other places of incarceration.