Address to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva,
Switzerland
April 18, 1996
 |
| Sebastián Arcos Bergnes in front of his home on May 31, 1995 |
Mr. President:
Members of the Commission:
My name is Sebastian Arcos Bergnes, and I am the Vice-president of the
Cuban Committee for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization founded
in Cuba in 1976 to observe the respect for the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in the island.
On the 15 of January 1992 I was arrested in my home by the Cuban political
police; the second time in ten years. On October of that year I was
sentenced to 4 years and eight months in prison for the sole crime of
reporting to this Commission the violations of human rights committed by
the government of my country. The labor of those volunteers of this
Commission inside of Cuba are considered by the government as "enemy
propaganda."
I will not enter into the details concerning the multiple irregularities
of the judicial process always against me, nor about the conditions that I
had to tolerate for more than three years. I will refer solely to one
aspect of this my last experience in Cuban prisons.
When I was arrested in January of 1992, I enjoyed excellent general health
for a man my age, 60 years then. I weighed around 170 pounds, and ran 5
to 6 kilometers every morning. Eight months later, when after a campaign
of denunciations of my family I was transferred finally to a military
hospital, I'd lost over 30 pounds and suffered from multiple ailments.
My stay in the hospital was not long. In December of 1992 I was
transferred to the Prison of Ariza in the Province of Cienfuegos, over 300 kilometers from my home and my relatives. All of the medical treatments
indicated by specialists of the military hospital were immediately
suspended. During the next 30 months that I spent in Ariza my state of
health worsened considerably, and I was systematically denied access to
the medications that my family sent me.
During those 30 months only occasionally did I see inexperienced
doctors that gave me incomplete medical exams and additionally lacked the
medication to prescribe me. I have in my possession a
detailed chronology
of my repeated denunciations concerning the abandonment of my health by
the Cuban authorities.
In February of 1994, in an attempt to refute my denunciations, the Cuban
government presented before this Commission a strip of video filmed
without my knowledge, in which I appeared to be undergoing a medical exam.
That was the second and last time that I was taken to the hospital, that
time for a cardiological exam which had been ordered with urgency on three
previous occasions.
In mid - 1994 I commenced to suffer pains in my left leg, which later
spread to the rest of my extremities. After a rapid examination, a doctor
in the prison determined that I suffered from polineutritis -a deficiency
illness very common in the Cuban jails, and he prescribed treatment with
vitamins. The pain continued with me for nearly a year later when I was
liberated as a result of a gesture of the humanitarian organization France
Liberte.
A few days after being liberated the pain worsened suddenly. Many weeks
later I had to be urgently admitted to the hospital, were a doctor
(friend) discovered that I had a malignant tumor in the rectum.
Finally I had to leave Cuba to receive medical treatment in Miami, where
my children live. The medical team which examined me in Mercy Hospital
diagnosed a rectal tumor of 8 cm of diameter, with more than a year and a
half of growth, with metastasis in the bones of the pelvis. At only 4 cm
from the anal sphincter, the tumor could have been easily detectable with
a simple feel of the area which is included in a basic medical exam for
any man over 50 years old. Attached here are medical diagnosis which
confirm what I've been saying.
These conclusions put the Cuban government in a difficult juncture. Or the
Cuban government didn't know of the existence of the tumor, and in that
case they recognize that they did not give me adequate medical
assistance; or I'm lying and the Cuban government did know about the tumor
and hid that knowledge for more than a year.Or the Cuban government
recognizes itself guilty of criminal negligence in my case, or it
recognizes itself guilty of an attempted premeditated homicide against my
person.
Mr. President:
Before I finish, I would like to make clear that mine is not an isolated
case, but only an example of the regular practice of Cuban authorities in
their treatment of prisoners of conscience. Out of the group of 6
political prisoners liberated by the Cuban government after the requests
of France Liberte, only two enjoyed good health. In addition to my own
case, Reinaldo Figueredo has cancer in his vocal chords, Luis Enrique
Gonzalez Ogra has pancreatic cancer, and Ismael Salvia Ricardo is nearly
blind. Terrible nutrition, crowded and unsanitary cells, housing with
common violent criminals, violent repression, and reluctant medical
assistance - if any- are the norm and not the exception in Cuban
prisons.
Because of all this, Mr. President, it is urgent that this Commission
demand of the Cuban government that it permit without restriction the
International Red Cross to all the Cuban prisons, and that Cuba comply
with the international statutes about prisoners and the treatment of
prisoners. This is the least we can do in the short run to avoid that
cases like mine be repeated, in which medical assistance
came-tragically-when it was already far too late.
Thank you very much,
Sebastian Arcos Bergnes
Reference summarizing his speech: UN
