His brother, José Daniel Ferrer, received 25 years for the same cause and is confined in another prison, CLM explained.
"In the prison of [the region of]Mar Verde, where Luis Enrique is carrying out his sentence, a very dangerous common Cuban prisoner is imprisoned, who was repatriated from the United States and goes by the [nickname] ‘machete,’" said the CLM representative Oswaldo Jose Paya Sardinas in a message to BosNewsLife from Havana.
He, "enjoys easy mobility within the prison, special advantages and also authority granted by the heads of the jail. This prisoner is utilized by the authorities to constantly harass and provoke Luis Enrique and he is usually accompanied by other common prisoners who carry around sharp objects," added Sardinas.
COMMON PRISONERS
Sardinas stressed that, "Some common prisoners have admitted that the guards and the State Security have offered them special benefits if they agree to harass and provoke LuÃs Enrique, but the majority has refused."
There have been other difficulties as well. "It has been several weeks that there is no running water in the prison and ‘machete’ sells water inside the prison. The prisoners only receive a minimal ration of drinking water, with the flavor of oxide, once a day. That water is stored in a dirty tank," explained Sardinas, who is well-informed about the situation within the prison.
He claimed that the "food is like that of concentration camps and sometimes they serve them rotten fish that the prisoners refuse. The prisoners have to defecate in nylon bags that they acquire in exchange for cigarettes and after using them, they must throw them to the basement of the building, so that rats and the smell of excrement is unbearable for twenty-four hours a day."
DESPERATE SITUATION
He said that "due to this desperate situation, on the 14th of September a prisoner tried to commit suicide, but his companions prevented it."
The next day, "another prisoner also tried to commit suicide and the guards applied a torture tactic on him of confining him to a punishment cell, handcuffing him to the upper part of the cell bars, so that he would be forced to remain standing," he said, adding that this “caused a horrible pain throughout his whole body."
He added that, "punishment is bestowed upon those who want to live and even those who want to die," LuÃs Enrique’s family and friends have difficulties visiting him, the official said.
FAMILY SUFFERS
"His mother, his sister, his wife and his small daughter Maria Libertad, who is three years old, face many difficulties to be present at the visitations every two months, because the State Security has threatened all the chauffeurs who rent their cars, so that they will not transport them," said Sardinas.
"This is just one example of the harassment and restrictions that these helpless women suffer at the hands of this most powerful machinery of repression."
The latest developments came shortly after another jailed Christian human rights activist, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, 45, in Cuba was "thanking God" for helping him to preserve amid "torture" in prison. in a statement to BosNewsLife last month.
SYSTEMATIC CRUELTY
Sardinas said that the, "facts reflect the systematic cruelty and sadistic manner in which the prisoners are treated." He accused local authorities and the Communist government of Cuba of encouraging the abuse and said the treatment violated international treaties.
He regretted that United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan had "refused" to meet with his group or any other dissidents, apparently for fear to up set the Cuban Government.
In a separate development, the World Council of Churches (WCC) said it would continue to offer pastoral support to the relatives of a group of imprisoned people known as the "Cuban Five", and will advocate for the relatives’ right to visit them.
CUBAN FIVE
The "Cuban Five" are five Cuban citizens imprisoned in US after being convicted by a US federal court in Miami on 8 June, 2001.
Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez were accused of conspiring to spy on the United States, and other related charges.
The five claim they were involved in monitoring the actions of Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent terrorist attacks in Cuba.
There has been some hope expressed by American officials that life for dissidents and Christians may improve after ailing 80-year old Cuban Fidel Castro put his brother Raul in temporary charge of the Cuban government July 31 as he prepared for intestinal surgery. However human rights groups so far have observed no real improvement on the Communist-run island. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Cuba)
