Ex-Cuban prisoners tell of abuses

Published Thursday, May 20, 1999, in the Miami Herald

Ex-Cuban prisoners tell of abuses

WASHINGTON -- Four former political prisoners from Cuba came to Capitol Hill Wednesday to remind congressional staffers of the human consequences of rights abuses in Cuba.

``Political prisoners are isolated from the world, and no one hears about them, or the torture and beatings,'' said Angel Cuadra, an activist and poet who spent 10 years in prison before he was allowed to leave Cuba in 1985 at the request of Sweden.

Ana Lazara Rodriguez, who spent 19 years in prison, described mental torture, continuous humiliation and solitary confinement for days when she had ``nothing at all.''

Alberto Grau Sierra and Carmen Arias also attended the luncheon organized by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, who praised the four as ``the survivors of Castro's gulag.''