Castro Siphoning Off Foreign Aid

November 10, 2010
By Martin Barillas in EnerPub:

AIDS sufferers denied medication in Cuba

According to CubaNet.com, patients suffering from HIV/AIDS are being denied medications and required dietary supplements by the Cuban government. Robert Tailer, 44, of the town of San Juan y Martinez in Pinar del Rio province said that condoms and medicines donated by foreign charities is being siphoned off by the Castro regime.

Tailer asserts that foreign donations are actually being sold to the general public by Cuba's Comercio Interior, a state-run monopoly. He added that he has been denied a government ration card, and has not been able to buy either foods prescribed by his diet nor ordinary foods other Cubans eat. Said Tailer, "There are 40 of us AIDS patients in this situation in San Juan y Martinez."

Besides systematic torture and imprisonment of political opponents and democracy advocates, Cuba's communist government has long been known for official persecution and abuse of homosexuals.

Pinar del Rio is the western-most province of Cuba and once saw an influx of Filipinos who came to the island on Spanish galleons during colonial times.

Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat, who also worked as a democracy advocate and election observer in Latin America.