The second head of the penitentiary establishments division of the Ministry of the Interior, First Colonel Osmany Leyva Ávila, assured this Monday that people deprived of liberty in Cuba can earn up to 10,000 Cuban pesos by doing different jobs.
Leyva said in the television program Hacemos Cuba, hosted by the regime's spokesman Humberto López, that "work is the leading program" of the national penitentiary system, which is divided into two forms. In one of them, the person receives a fixed salary, as a staff member of the penal institution in which they are located, while in the other they are paid according to the work they perform.
"There are activities that are productive that can be linked to the activity they carry out, such as construction, metal workers, it is because of the production they produce. We have inmates today who, because of the activity they carry out, fundamentally those who are linked to construction, who can receive a salary that exceeds 10,000 pesos. More than 10,000 pesos," explained the soldier.
This was the second edition of We make Cuba dedicated to talking about "the rights and guarantees of people deprived of liberty" on the island, with a marked propaganda intention, in a context where reports of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment against the prison population are increasingly proliferating.
"Today we will learn about other spaces, other projects, that seek to ensure that these people, once their sanctions have been served, reintegrate into society in the most harmonious way possible. Furthermore, these programs, on many occasions, which is very interesting, they add to the families of the inmates," López announced at the beginning.
Days ago, the independent legal organization Cubalex denounced the use of a torture technique known as “the bicycle” in different prisons in Cuba, which consists of “handcuffing the inmates and throwing them down the stairs.”
The political prisoners Félix Navarro, Lázaro Díaz, José Rolando Casares, Maykel Castillo, Danilo Maldonado, José Díaz Silva and Yunisbel Valido offered testimony about the use of this torture in the Combinado del Este and Valle Grande prisons (Havana), Agüica ( Matanzas), Guajamal (Villa Clara) and Kilometer 5½ (Pinar del Río).
Also Professor Pedro Albert Sánchez, deprived of liberty since November 2021 for political reasons, He said that two prisoners were victims of beatings and mistreatment in the Valle Grande prison where he is held. According to Albert, both were beaten by the prison authorities on May 8, Mother's Day, in cell number 15. One of them had participated in the protests against the government on July 11.
At the same time, the Cuban regime is carrying out a strong communication campaign to try to counteract such testimonies, which have reached international organizations, and to try to present its penitentiaries as places that respect human rights.
Last week, Humberto López toured the facilities of the Combinado del Este, in Havana, and attended a ball game between inmates and family visits. In the images then released by the state press, the inmates appear in new, clean uniforms, well fed and pleased with the treatment they receive.
Now, Osmany Leyva speaks enthusiastically about access to work in prisons. He assures that there they are governed "by the rates provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security" and that the minimum wage is the same as that of society: about 2,000 Cuban pesos.
The official assures that "the incorporation of resources into the different programs is not mandatory," but that if they do not do so, they cannot access certain benefits. "The system also provides things that are additional, and precisely those are what we are referring to. If you do not join the activities that we have planned, you cannot, for example, receive the two months that we give additional sanction reduction," warns.
"The stimulation that we give you with pavilion, with visits, with permission to go home, if you are not incorporated into the educational programs, you do not have it, but no one can lose the two months of reduced sanction that we naturally give for not be incorporated into the programs," he explains.
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