Cuban President Raul Castro has expressed regret over the death of a jailed hunger-striking dissident. Orlando Zapata Tamayo had refused to eat for eighty-five days to protest what he called inhumane jail conditions. Amnesty International had declared him a prisoner of conscience. On Wednesday, Castro said Tamayo had received Cuba’s best medical care and said Cuba “very much regrets” his death. Castro also defended Cuba’s treatment of prisoners, comparing it to the United States.

Cuban President Raul Castro: “In a half a century, we haven’t killed a single person. Here, there was no torture. There was no execution. Here, we haven’t killed anyone unlawfully. Well, here in Guantánamo, there has been torture, but in the Guantánamo naval base, not in our territory.”