"None of these cases involved violence or the threat of violence," one of the US officials said of the 74 men and one woman arrested in the March last year roundup.
Relatives of some imprisoned dissidents have complained their loved ones are not getting adequate medical care behind bars, a charge that has enraged communist officials.
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque last week called a news conference to show reporters heavily edited videotaped interviews with some of the inmates' relatives, who indicated their loved ones were doing well.
Several of those interviewed later complained their comments were heavily edited to underscore positive comments and eliminate criticisms.
Human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez, who has spent eight-and-a-half-years in Cuban prisons, characterized Wednesday's tour as "primitive propaganda."
During the tour and meetings of the prison medicine congress earlier this week, Cuban authorities repeatedly refused to say how many prisoners there are on the island.
Sanchez's non-governmental Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation has estimated there are scores of thousands of inmates around the island in more than 200 prisons and camps, including more than 300 political prisoners.



