Cuba Archive - Case 8610

Case ID: 8610

Title: N/A

First name: Sebastián

Last name: Arcos Bergnes

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: N/A

Age: 66

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:5 / Month:4 / Year:1931

Civil Status: Divorced / Separated

Date of death/disappearance: Day:23 / Month:12 / Year:1997

Citizenship: N/A

Last known address: Quintana #12605 e/10 y 11, Aldabó

Last known city: Havana

Last known province-TOD: La Habana

Last known province current: N/A

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: 925 NW 128th Court

Location of death - city: Miami, FL

Location of death province - at TOD: N/A

Location of death province - current: N/A

Location of death - country: United States

Trial held?: Yes

Docket Number: Oct. 1992

Sentence details: 4 years, 8 months

Arrest or detention at time of death: No

Date of arrest: Day:15 / Month:1 / Year:1992

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: Ariza Prison, Cienfuegos

How long imprisoned/detained: January 1992 to June 1995

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: Prison authorities

Associated Event: N/A

Case description:

Arcos had been a member of the anti-Batista 26th of July movement and Castro supporter but turned against the Communist direction of the revolutionary government and co-founded joined the Cuban Human Rights Committee in the early 1980s, as its Vice President. He was arrested for the third time in January 1992 and sentenced to four years and 8 months of prison. At Ariza Prison in Cienfuegos, he was systematically denied medical attention. Consequently,  a malignant tumor developed in the rectum which metastasized into bone cancer in the pelvic area. By the time he was released from prison, the tumor was already the size of an orange. The government offered to release him if he agreed to leave Cuba, but he refused, and freed him in June 1995 for health reasons, allowing him to travel to Miami when it was too late for treatment. His doctor in Cuba, Dr. Julio Martínez Carlés, lost his job in the state health system for treating him; he had discovered the colon cancer and insisted that it was curable if it had been treated in its initial stages. ===================================== 
Activista por los derechos humanos arrestado por tercera vez en 1992, fue sentenciado a cuatro años de prisión en la prisión de Ariza en Cienfuegos, donde desarrolló cáncer del recto, que no fue tratado debido a sus actividades disidentes como vicepresidente del Comité pro Derechos Humanos en Cuba. Fue liberado en junio de 1995 debido a su salud precaria y se le permitió viajar a Miami, donde fue atendido en el Mercy Hospital y por la Liga de Contra el Cáncer de Miami. Debido a no haberse tratado a tiempo, su cáncer se metastatizó como cáncer de huesos en el área pélvica, causándole la muerte. Su médico en Cuba, el Dr. Julio Martínez Carlés, quien perdió su trabajo en el sistema de salud estatal como resultado de tratarlo, declaró que su cáncer de colon era curable si se hubiera tratado en las etapas iniciales, en las que se negó el tratamiento.

Sources: Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Medical condition/Denial of medical care

Occupations: - Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations - Military Specific Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: - Brother/Sister in Case 2094: Luis Arcos Bergnes

Victim Type: - Prisoner / Detainee: Recently released

Affiliations: - Comité Cubano Pro Derechos Humanos

Other Victims Same Event: N/A

Case Record - Sebastián Arcos Bergnes