HAVANA, March 8 (Reuters) - A Cuban dissident who has been on a hunger strike for 36 days to demand unfettered Internet access is refusing medication and his health is deteriorating rapidly, fellow dissidents said on Wednesday.
Guillermo Farinas, a 41-year-old psychologist, went on a hunger strike on Jan. 31 to press Cuba's Communist authorities to respect his right to freedom of information and allow him Internet access, which is controlled by the government.
Farinas was moved to a hospital in his hometown of Santa Clara, in central Cuba, where he is being kept on an IV drip.
"The hunger strike continues. He has been isolated in intensive care since Thursday," said Niurbis Diaz, who worked with Farinas as an independent reporter. "He is refusing pills and injections," she told Reuters by telephone.
Cuba, like China, controls access to the Internet. Direct access to the World Wide Web is generally only available to government-approved individuals, but passwords can be purchased on the black market.
The postal service offers an e-mail service, but users can only surf Cuban Web sites. International Web sites run by exile groups are routinely blocked by Cuba's state-run servers.
The U.S. State Department, in its 2005 human rights report published on Wednesday, said Cuba was a "totalitarian state" that represses dissents, has jailed 333 people for political reasons and severely curbs freedom of speech and information.
"The government controlled all access to the Internet and took steps to censor all electronic mail, disallowing any attachments," the report said.
Cuban President Fidel Castro's government says Internet access is restricted in Cuba due to the limited bandwidth available.
They blame that on U.S. economic sanctions that bar Cuba from hooking up to submarine fiber optic cables and force the country to use satellite communications for Internet traffic.
Farina's hunger strike has alarmed other opposition activists. Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya urged him on Wednesday to end his protest.
"We call on authorities to respect his rights, agree to his petition immediately, and save his life," Paya said.
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