Ernesto Sanchez Gomez (pictured on the left) is a 39 year old Cuban man who has been medically diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and paroxysmal cerebral dysrhythmia for practically his entire life. Ernesto has been arrested twice and charged with several counts of theft in Cuba, crimes which his family said he did not commit. He is currently being held in the general population Combinado del Este prison where he has been beaten and neglected, as he awaits trial.
Ernestos’s brother, Roberto Quiros, who is currently residing in the U.S. has sent several letters to President Raul Castro and other government officials, pleading for Ernesto to be transferred to a proper mental institution for treatment and to be removed immediately from the general population for his immediate safety. Roberto has also sent a letter requesting assistance to the United Nations. The UN’s official response states that they are unable to assist in the matter due to the fact that Cuba is “not a state party to the Optional Protocal (OP)” of either the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) or the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
According to Mr. Quiros, his brother has been the victim of multiple beatings from other inmates and has expressed his intention of committing suicide. Attached are the actual petitions from Roberto Quiras to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as the letters sent to Cuban officials, including President Raul Castro and Minister of the Interior, Colome Ibarra.
Petition to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Letter sent by Robert Fidel Quiros to President, Raul Castro and Minister of Interior, Colomé Ibarra