State Security Prison. Holguin, Cuba

October 27, 2003.

THE CUBAN FOUNDATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS reports the agonizing conditions of terror and torture suffered by women detained at this penitentiary, a unit of Cuban State Security in the province of Holguin, Cuba.

Day and night, the screams of tormented women in panic and desperation who cry for God's mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities. They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called "drawers" that have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects.

These female prisoners lack all sort of necessary personal possessions and almost always have no water, even for bathing, often drinking this precious liquid full of insects. The food distributed to them is terrible, smells rotten, and is stored in receptacles lacking in hygiene. Even prison officials have complained of the small quantities served.

In these "drawers" the women remain weeks and months. When they scream in terror due to the darkness (blackouts are common) and the heat, they are injected sedatives that keep them half-drugged.

They are supervised by men who personally administer the feminine products they need and who so often open these "drawers" without respecting their privacy.

One female prisoner cried out, "get me out!", "get me out, I'm suffocating!", and an official called Marino replied: "stick your nose out through a hole and shut up!"

If anyone in the penitentiary protests out loud, they are taken to assigned  punishment cells where they must abide by a ruthless discipline.

Testimony provided by
JUAN CARLOS GONZALEZ LEIVA
Blind lawyer in prison and President of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights

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