July 21st., 1997

Confined in a dark cell Desi Mendoza Rivero

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, July 15 (Nicolas Rosario Rozabal, Havana Press)- Doctor Desi Mendoza Rivero continues to be confined in a cell in the provincial department of the State's Security.

Mendoza Rivero, who resides at 472 Santa Rita street, between Calvario and Reloj, in Santiago de Cuba, was arrested on June the 25, by officers of that department's political police after he had made publicly known, nationally, and internationally, facts and consequences of an epidemic outbreak that struck that city in months past.

As far as is known, Desi Mendoza Rivero suffers at present time the harshness of a dark cell with scarce ventilation, an unbalanced blood pressure, and a remarkable loss of his body weight

The 45-year old doctor from Santiago de Cuba has been accused of illegal associations, reunions, and demonstrations, and also of enemy propaganda.