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While Cuba's new constitution is paving the way for same-sex marriage, under the leadership of Castro, homosexuality was ruthlessly persecuted.

Gay people were viewed as a “deviation incompatible with the revolution”.

They were sent to prison without charge or trial and forced into prison camps known as Units to Aid Production along with Jehovah's Witnesses, and other "undesirables".

People were beaten, threatened with execution, had their mouths stuffed with dirt, buried into the ground up to their neck and tied up naked outside in barbed wire.

It comes as Cuba prepares to mark the 60th anniversary on January 1st on the revolution.

(Image: Getty – David Hume Kennerly)

(Image: David Hume Kennerly)

Writer Reinaldo Arenas wrote about the treatment he and other gay Cubans faced in prison, saying: “It was a sweltering place without a bathroom.

“Gays were not treated like human beings, they were treated like beasts.

“They were the last ones to come out for meals, so we saw them walk by, and the most insignificant incident was an excuse to beat them mercilessly.”

Another victim of Castro’s merciless intolerance was poet Armando Valladares who was originally a supporter of the revolution.

But after refusing to put a “I’m with Fidel” sign on his desk he was charged with “terrorism” and sentenced to 30 years.

(Image: David Hume Kennerly)

He served 22 years and during this time he was forced to eat other prisoners’ excrement and put in a tiny cell so small he could not lie down.

Cuban human rights activist and Associate Director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, Sebastian Acros, said Castro was actually a political prisoner himself after the Moncada barracks attack in 1953.

He was treated reasonably well, but treated his own prisoners appallingly.

Speaking to Daily Star Online, he said: “Interestingly, he once was a political prisoner himself after the Moncada barracks attack in 1953, and he was treated with respect and afforded the traditional privileges granted to political prisoners at the time: kept in the same place along his comrades; dress in civilian clothes; full access to a library; full access to a food store and allowed to cook inside his cell; regular visits by family and friends, etc.

“I know this first hand, because my uncle Gustavo Arcos was with Castro at the attack (in the same car) and later in prison together.

“My father was also a political prisoner during Batista’s time, and received the same treatment (except for a severe beating when he arrived at the prison where he lost a tooth).”

Castro himself routinely referred to gay men as "f****ts" and "worms" and in the 70s any boy perceived as effeminate was forced to undergo aversion therapy.

Homesexuality was eventually made legal in Cuba in 1979 but persecution continued with many LGBT people forced to leave Cuba otherwise face a spell in forced labour camps.

All dissenters and political opponents were treated abysmally under Castro so as to encourage people to migrate.

Mr Acros added: “During the 60s and 70s, political prisoners were systematically kept in overcrowded cells, with limited access to sanitary and medical services, and intermittent running water.

(Image: David Hume Kennerly)

They were systematically undernourished, and beatings were frequent.

Guards used rubber hoses, rubber batons, electric batons, and Garand bayonets. Quite a few prisoners were killed during these beatings.

“Political prisoners were frequently moved from prison to prison, in provinces far away from their relatives. Sentences of 20, 25, and 28 years were common," Mr Acros added.

“In the book Back Channel to Cuba by William LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh (2015), Castro acknowledged a couple of times that he was holding at least 20,000 political prisoners.”

Castro later said he did not "pay enough attention to homosexuals" and wined that there were "too many attacks" which caused his abhorrent treatment.

(Image: David Hume Kennerly)

He said: “At the time we were being sabotaged systematically, there were armed attacks against us, we had too many problems.”

The Cuban-American, who heads the Miami-based LGBT group Unity Coalition, said: “I would never be happy about anyone’s death – anyone.

“But the long-awaited passing of one of the Castro monsters that have imposed nearly six decades of oppression, pain and death to so many Cubans does bring a certain closure for many.”

But despite Cuba trying to present itself as reforming, the treatment of political prisoners remains poor.

Mr Across concluded: “As recent as during Pres. Obama’s visit to Havana, Raul Castro denied the existence of political prisoners and demanded the reported to produce a list, claiming they would be released immediately (this is on video).

“Just last week, US Secretary of State Pompeo sent a letter to the Cuban regime requesting the release of a short list of names of political prisoners, all recognised by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience. The Cuban regime refused.”