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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

For Immediate Release
June 2, 2003
2003/596   REVISED

Statement by Philip T. Reeker, Deputy Spokesman

U.S. Concern about the Health of Oscar Espinosa Chepe and Other Political
Prisoners

The United States is deeply concerned over the Cuban government's treatment
of Cuban political prisoner Oscar Espinosa Chepe.  According to his wife and
other family members, Mr. Chepe may die if he is not transferred immediately
from prison hospital to a better facility in Havana.  This Cuban political
prisoner is suffering from liver disease, edema, gastrointestinal bleeding,
and other symptoms indicating a serious medical condition.  The United
States demands that the Cuban government provide Mr. Chepe with adequate
health care and transfer him to a hospital where he can receive the level of
care commensurate with his illness.  

Mr. Chepe is a 62-year old independent journalist, and is one of 75
independent activists, journalists, and librarians arrested and sentenced to
long jail terms in March 2003.  He was arrested and sentenced to prison for
20 years on trumped up treason charges.  His only real crime was to call for
peaceful change in Cuba.  Mr. Chepe and all 75 of these political prisoners
should be released immediately.

The United States is also  concerned by reports that political prisoners
Raul Rivero, Martha Beatriz Roque, Jorge Olivera, and Roberto de Miranda are
also ill.  All should be given immediate access to adequate health care.
Many of the 75 prisoners are being held in inhumane conditions, with very
poor sanitation, contaminated water, and nearly inedible food.  The Cuban
government appears to be going out of its way to treat these prisoners
inhumanely.  It should immediately cease this practice and, at the minimum,
allow the appropriate humanitarian organizations to monitor the treatment of
its political prisoners.