Madrid, Spain, Jul 21, 2010 / 19:44 pm
A political prisoner in Cuba is on the third day of his hunger strike in order to protest his return to prison. The dissident had been temporarily transferred in order to receive medical treatment.
According to the leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Paya, Efren Fernandez’s motive for the strike is to call for “better treatment for the poor state of his health.”
Paya said Fernandez, 47, “was hospitalized on June 13 for bacterial lesions on his skin and intestinal problems. While he was still sick, he was moved back to a prison cell with high humidity where he cannot continue receiving medical treatment.”
Fernandez is one of 75 intellectuals, journalists and dissidents detained during the wave of repression called “Black Spring,” which took place in March 2003. He is among the 52 prisoners - 41 who remain in jail - that Raul Castro has promised to release in the upcoming weeks as a result of the dialogue underway with the Archdiocese of Havana