ARMANDO LAGO
Psychiatry and Torture In Cuba
Until rece ntl y th e world 's attenti o n o n psychi atri c abuse was centered o n
the former Soviet Uni o n , wh ere Sidn ey Bloch and Peter R.eddaway re–
ported , in th e ir seminal book
Psychiatric Terro r
in 1977, three hundred
sixty- five cases in a po pu la ti o n of three hundred milli o n Soviet citi ze ns.
Sca nt attenti o n has been paid to the psychi atri c abuse o f po liti cal dissi–
dents in Castro's C uba. In a two- yea r study, culmin atin g in o ur book,
The
Politics
4
Psychialry ill RCflo/lItiollary C lIba
(Transacti o n Books, 199 1),
Charl es
J.
13rown and I fo und sixty-three cases of C uban po liti cal di ssi–
dents inte rn ed in psychi atri c hospitals, w ho had been subj ected to to rture
with ele ctroshock trea tl1l ents and h igh doses o f psycho tropi c drugs. Thi s
data, compi led from
sallli::dal
publi cations smuggled o ut by human ri ghts
groups inside C uba, shows a rate o f psyc hi atri c abuse in C uba six times
greater than in the fo rmer Soviet Uni o n .
We analyzed o nl y thirty- o ne of the C uban cases we fo und , concen–
trating o n d iss ide nts now li vin g in th e Uni ted States and o n cases that
could be verifi ed by Amn esty Intern ati o nal and Ameri ca W atch file s. O ur
strategy of fo ll owing o nl y thirty- o ne cases, th ose we could veri fy using
outside sources, was ne cessa ry in o rder to minimi ze the possibility o f o ur
findin gs bein g sa bo taged by the C ubn Department of State Security, the
Cuban KGB . T he analysis of th e cases revea led a sys temati c pattern o f
torture using psychi atri c l1I eth ods. Eleve n di sside nts were fo rced to un–
dergo electros hoc k trea tl1l e nts, som e rece iving as many as twen ty-fo ur
sessions. Sixteen d iss ide nts we re fo rced
to
in gest hi g h doses o f psy–
chotropi c dru gs, mainl y chl o rpromazin e (Tho razine), in two cases fo r pe–
riods as long as five yea rs. Dissidents of all ages were subj ec ted to such
psychi atri c to rtures, from th e sixteen-yea r-o ld J ose Luis Alvarado, who
received three electroshock sess io ns and hi gh doses o f dru gs aft er a fail ed
attempt to ga in asy lum in th e Colo mbi an Embassy in H ava na, to the
businessman Euge ni o de Sosa, who at th e age o f sixty- o ne received fo ur–
teen electros hoc k sess io ns as punishment fo r smu ggling m essages from
prison. While a w ide va ri ety o f pro fess io ns and occupati o ns w ere repre–
sented in the database, two groups stood o ut: students (fi ve cases) and–
journalists and write rs (six cases).
The political nature o f t he offe nses that landed th e di ssidents in th e
psychiatri c hospitals is clea r. Eight di ss ide nts were inte rn ed aft er unsuc–
cessful attempts to leave C uba illega ll y; ano ther ten were intern ed fo r
