health and said he may soon die because of threats from a fellow prisoner, according to a transcript obtained by BosNewsLife.
Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, has been hospitalized in prison ‘Las Mangas ‘ in Bayamo, the capital city of Granma Province, along with common prisoners, and is reportedly suffering from "from chronic bloody diarrhea and persistent ulcerative colitis as a consequence of the Syndrome of Intestinal Malabsorption" which he allegedly developed since his imprisonment in 2003.
In a phone call with dissidents his wife, Yamilet Llanes Labrada, said Dr. Garcia Paneque health has worsened since November. "His deteriorated body doesn’t reach the weight of 50 kilograms (110 lbs.)" she said in a telephone conversation. ‘ “He feels very tired, his blood pressure" is high and "the spoiled prison food he has consumed has caused and worsened the diarrhea."
She said her husband has not seen the sun for months “and he is forced to endure extreme psychological pressure," according to the transcript seen by BosNewsLife. In addition, a common prisoner in his 20s with whom Dr. Garcia Paneque had serious arguments, threatened to kill the physician and threw his clothes in a latrine full of excrement, BosNewsLife learned.
PRISON AUTHORITIES
Prison authorities allegedly told Yamilet, who sees her husband every 45 days, that “they were not aware these events had occurred.” 41-year old José Luis GarcÃa Paneque, is one of six doctors who were detained for their criticism towards the Communist government, amid reports of a crackdown on Christians, journalists, and political activists.
The other known doctors identified as “prisoners of conscious” by rights group Amnesty International as are Oscar ElÃas Biscet González, Marcelo Cano RodrÃguez, Orlando Fundora Alvarez, Luis Milán Fernández, and Ricardo Silva Gual. Dr. GarcÃa Paneque is a plastic surgeon and member of the unofficial Cuban Medical Association. He is also active in journalism and is the director of the independent press agency, Libertad.
He was arrested on March 18, 2003, in his home city Las Tunas, in the east of Cuba, and was sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment for actions against Cuba’s "independence and economy" and "actions against the state’s independence and territorial integrity" under Law 88 and Article 91 of the Penal Code.
CHILDREN "SUFFER"
Dr. Garcia Paneque’s four children are psychologically affected by their father’s imprisonment and by the constant harassment they must sustain, the advocacy group Coalition of Cuban-American Women, told BosNewsLife.
"Three times a week, groups of elderly Cubans cry out governmental slogans just two houses away from Dr. Garcia Paneque’s home. Sheila, the eldest child,15 years old, is barred from studying computer technology in spite of her high school grades, and she is being pressured to sign up with the Union of Communist Youth, an organization she refuses to join,” the group added.
"When Jose Alejandro, 9 years old, visits the prison he frequently compares the girth of his arm to the girth of his sick father’s arm."
In December last year, Yamilet Llanes Labrada urged the Cuban Ministry of Interior that a medical parole be granted to her husband. She still awaits a response, her supporters said. Cuban leader Fidel Castro has denied wrongdoing and the existence of dissidents who he describes as "mercenaries of the United States."
