Journalists get glimpse of idyllic side; critics say it's all for show

By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

HAVANA – For more than a year, Fidel Castro's foes have been saying that Cuban prisons are wretched gulags where inmates endure beatings, psychological torture and filth.

On Wednesday, the socialist government sought to change that image, opening up two prisons to 44 foreign journalists, the largest such group to visit Cuban jails since the 1959 revolution.

At the prisons, female inmates cared for their newborn infants, male prisoners in crisp uniforms sat in a classroom studying nursing, and jailhouse doctors showed off their medical equipment.

Relatives of jailed political dissidents called it a "show" and said the Cuban government didn't give journalists the full picture.

"Jail conditions are much worse than what the government pretends," said Miriam Levya, wife of Oscar Espinoza Chepe, 63, a political opposition leader serving an 18-year prison term.

Cuba has not allowed the International Red Cross to inspect its jails for more than 15 years. And only a few foreign journalists have been allowed sporadic visits to the prisons since the 1980s.

The tour Wednesday included two of Havana's two largest prisons. But journalists saw only the facilities directly related to inmate education and health care.

A senior U.S. official in Havana, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he thinks the Cuban government is focusing on health and education to draw attention away from its jailing of 75 members of the peaceful political opposition in March 2003.

"The problem is these folks are in prison to begin with," he said.

Rewriting history?

Said another U.S. official in Havana, "What's really troubling right now is that they're trying to rewrite the history of what happened."

Cuban officials say the dissidents were jailed because they are subversives who were on the payroll of the U.S. government and private anti-Castro groups.

The U.S. official disputed that.

"Castro operates under the management policies of Homer Simpson: 'It's everyone's fault but mine.' It's ludicrous. The regime's been unchanged for 45 years – 45 years of total power, and they're not responsible for anything."

Wednesday's prison tour began at a men's prison called El Combinado del Este, an assortment of buildings in the countryside east of Havana. Dozens of inmates ran around an outside track. Others played baseball and volleyball.

'I prepare for the future'

Inside, some prisoners studied health care. An inmate who identified himself as Juan Carlos, 35, serving a nine-year term for assault, said he hopes to be a nurse when he gets out.

He and 15 other students study eight hours a day as a part of a pilot program that began in February, said Aurelio González, a prison doctor.

At the women's prison, inmate Mirelys Ramírez welcomed visitors with a patriotic song.

"I used to be what's known as an anti-social element," she said later. "I had really bad behavior. But in prison, I've achieved a lot of things I wasn't able to accomplish out on the streets."

The 26-year-old said she got into a fight with a man seven years ago. In retaliation, she said, he accused her of strong-armed robbery – a charge she denies. A court convicted her, and she was sentenced to nine years in jail.

"Of course I want to leave jail," she said. "But I accept my circumstances. And I prepare for the future. I sing. I entertain people. I realize now I have a good voice. I want to be a singer when I get out."

Paula Rodríguez, in jail since last year, said she's also turning her life around. She's studying health care, and she works as a nurse's aide at the prison.

"Fidel Castro is turning our prisons into schools. I'm proof of that," said Ms. Rodríguez, who declined to specify the charges against her.