Voices From Prison:The Cuban Five

Interviews with fellow prisoners for whom friendship with the Five changed their life, plus accounts by the Five of their prison experience. See review. Spanish version also available

Ed, Mary-Alice Waters, Pathfinder Press 2014, ISBN 9781604880588

£4.50 inc p&p

| Check Basket |

No country imprisons a higher percentage of its population than the USA. Over 2.2 million in jail, and 97% in federal prisons have not gone to trial. One of the striking facts about the Five, is the effect they have had on other prisoners. This latest volume is a mix of interviews with prisoners who feel their friendship with such kind and principled men changed their life, plus interviews with Rene, Gerardo and writings by Ramon and Antonio about their prison experience.
Rodolfo, a Cuban veteran of the Mariel exodus in 1980 (from Cuba to Miami), formerly very critical of the revolution and a committed Christian was first impressed by Rene because Rene did not immediately argue with him rather persuading him that in fact they both wanted the best for humanity.
Rene recalls getting respect from fellow prisoners just from having actually gone to trial – “The system is rigged in such a way that you will lose. Your lawyers persuade you to cooperate and that always ends up meaning you have to finger somebody. When we went to trial we stood up to the government. People respect you for that. Besides they know you won’t finger them.”
Other prisoners had respect when they saw how many letters the Five received not just from their families but from people all over the world. When Cuba produced stamps with the Five on them, Rene recalls people saying: “Daamn! This guy is on a stamp!”
When the Five were arrested in 1998 they were all put in solitary confinement in ‘the hole’ in the Miami Detention Centre. The hole was the punishment block – where prisoners who had broken a rule were put and locked up 23 hours a day. Ramon tells the almost Kafkaesque tale of how they got out of the ‘hole’ by discovering a form they could use to request to be moved.
For Gerardo the point of keeping the Five in the ‘hole’ was to try to break them – to get them to be traitors. He recalls how the only book they were allowed there was a bible. When he asked for a bible just to have something to read it arrived with phone numbers of the FBI on cards inside.
There are fascinating stories here – revealing a strength of character despite the brutality of their conditions and the physical and psychological pressures experienced.

Review in CubaSi magazine Spring 2014