This is what Cuban prisons are like, according to official spokesman Humberto López

Painted and tidy bedrooms with bunk beds that have foam mattresses, laid out with new, impeccably white sheets and towels; classrooms with modern furniture and blackboards, sports fields in optimal condition; happy prisoners dressed in clothes that still have the tags attached... This is what Cuban prisons are like according to the spokesman for the Cuban regime Humberto López.

In the midst of complaints about the precarious situation of Cuban prisons and the death of more than a hundred prisoners in the last year, the Cuban regime tries to deny the accusations against it through a series of reports prepared, specifically, to show "how good it is to live" in the country's prisons.

The official spokesman Humberto López announced his documentary series, which began at the Combinado del Este in Havana, and which includes visits to other units. However, since its first delivery, the journalistic work left more than one person surprised by the paradise shown, which shamelessly contrasts with the testimonies of dozens of prisoners in recent months.

The Cuban regime's press has shown impeccable facilities, where everything appears painted and clean. The bedrooms, with newly remodeled bunk beds, have foam mattresses with new, impeccably white sheets and towels, which the population cannot find even in the most reputable hospital centers on the island.

Likewise, the prisoners were dressed in school uniforms so new that the shirts still bear the marks of the packaging, because apparently there was no time to iron them.

In the report, the prisoners also appear dressed in their usual clothing without tears, and white face masks, released to appear on television.

About social life it is shown to thehappy prisoners, studying, dancing, and showing the reporter their brand new sports fields. "They have never tortured us, on the contrary," they say.

However, the material failed to deceive many Cubans, who joked on the social network stating that "it makes you want to go live there." They assure that everything was carefully prepared to deny the complaints, especially after the United Nations Committee against Torture harshly criticized the Cuban authorities for not presenting the requested annual report on the situation in the prisons of the Caribbean nation, which occupies fifth place in the world in prison population.

Likewise, the reporter insists on a reality that in the opinion of many Cubans on social networks has been falsified to support a newpenal code approved by Parliament, which violates the fundamental rights of citizens, as explained by the experts.

"In the Cuban prison system, educational and social reintegration programs are a priority. The National Assembly has just ratified the popular will for this to be the case, with the approval this weekend of the new Criminal Execution Law. For several days we will remain touring different penitentiary establishments in the country; we will show the details in future broadcasts of #VamosCuba...", López announced on his Facebook profile.

The controversial television presenter added in another post that the new practices and legal provisions regulate the treatment of people who are deprived of liberty and that the new code "expands the rights and guarantees for these people, in line with the 2019 Constitution." .

Despite this propaganda, the regime has received strong criticism from international organizations for the high sentences imposed on 9/11 protesters – some of them minors – in judicial processes full of irregularities and where their rights have been violated.

Contrary to the prisoners' statements to official television, the11J protesters have denounced mistreatment, torture, arbitrary punishments and the terrible state of prison facilities.

For their part, inmates in the Guantánamo and Santa Clara prisons denounce that the guards starve them, because they do not give them the established rations, they rarely taste any protein and they find worms in the food.

Last week the regime had to acknowledge that at least 100 people have died while deprived of liberty since 2021, and that almost none of these deaths, most of them apparently caused by coronary problems, were investigated.

However, on Monday the death of 24-year-old prisoner Luis Yazmani Medina was reported, who died in a prison in Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, without receiving medical assistance, according to his cellmates.

According to several testimonies sent toCyberCuba, The young man had been suffering from a condition for almost a month that prevented him from breathing., and had worsened in the last four days – they suspect that he suffered a heart attack – but they did not want to transfer him to a hospital.

His companions stated that the prison authorities were trying to divert attention from the matter by claiming that he committed suicide.

On Thursday, the legal platform Cubalex documented the use of the torture technique known as "the bicycle" in Cuban prisons, through the testimony of several political prisoners.

The type of torture known as "on the bike"consists of handcuffing the inmates and throwing them down the stairs," according to the organization in a post this Thursday on their Facebook profile, where they have been describing, in recent days, some of the forms of torture used in prisons. from the country.

According to Cubalex, political prisoners Félix Navarro, Lázaro Díaz, José Rolando Casares, Maykel Castillo, Danilo Maldonado, José Díaz Silva and Yunisbel Valido said they were aware of this method of torture used in the Combinado del Este and Valle Grande prisons ( Havana), just the facilities visited by López.

Agüica (Matanzas), Guajamal (Villa Clara) and Kilómetro 5½ (Pinar del Río) also apply it, the inmates told the independent media.

Last year Cuba ranked fifth on the list of countries withhighest prison population rate in the world, according to the latest report from the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR), based at Birkbeck Law School, University of London.

The countries with the highest prison population rates, estimated as the number of inmates per 100,000 inhabitants, are the United States (629), followed by Rwanda (580), Turkmenistan (576), El Salvador (564) and Cuba ( 510), refers to the 13th edition of the World Prison Population List (WPPL), published last December.