Two prisoners in Guantánamo reported dead due to tuberculosis and starvation

The human rights organization Cubalex condemned the deaths of two inmates in state custody at the Provincial Prison of Guantánamo, Cuba, amid serious allegations regarding health and nutritional conditions within the Cuban prison system.

Alfredo Poll Imber, 50 years old, passed away on April 11 due to tuberculosis while serving an 11-year sentence in that correctional facility.

The second case is that of Ermis Bombu Moreira, 52 years old, who died on May 7 at the Provincial Hospital of Guantánamo after suffering a metabolic coma caused by starvation.

According to testimonies received by Cubalex, Bombu Moreira "was transferred from prison in critical condition to the emergency intensive care unit of the hospital."

The day before his passing, a court granted him an extrapenal license in a proceeding conducted during the early morning and in the presence of a prosecutor.

Cubalex warns that "as of now, it is unknown how long he remained in a state of starvation and the reasons that led him to a possible hunger strike."

This practice of releasing prisoners in terminal condition hours before their death follows a documented pattern: it allows the death to occur technically outside the prison, thereby evading the formal responsibility of the State.

A similar case was that of the political prisoner from 11J, Luis Miguel Oña Jiménez, aged 27, who died in February of this year just days after being released under the same circumstances.

For Cubalex, "these deaths occur in state custody and reflect the extreme precariousness of sanitary, food, and medical conditions in Cuban prisons."

Tuberculosis has become a recurring cause of death in Cuban prisons due to extreme overcrowding, a shortage of medications, and the lack of isolation for sick individuals.

The Boniato prison, in Santiago de Cuba, recorded multiple deaths due to this disease between February and March 2025, and in May of that year, an active outbreak was reported in the Bayamo prison.

Malnutrition is equally critical. Organizations like Prisoners Defenders have documented a food rationing of only 500-700 calories per day in Cuban prisons, compared to the minimum of 2,100 calories recommended by the World Health Organization.

In February of this year, a riot at the Canaleta Prison in Ciego de Ávila was sparked precisely by extreme hunger; independent testimonies reported at least seven deaths and about thirty injuries.

The alarming increase in deaths in custody in Cuba is not a new phenomenon: in 2025, Cubalex documented at least 34 deaths in penitentiary facilities, which amounts to nearly one death per week.

The organization recalls that "the Cuban State has the obligation to guarantee the life, health, and physical integrity of all persons deprived of liberty," an obligation that it considers systematically unfulfilled by the dictatorship.