The May Day parade in Cuba
“I have little to lose by going,” I heard him say to a civil worker in the military enterprise where they keep me stowed away. “And I say little because if I lose that, I’ll be up in the air.”
Those who were listening shook their heads in agreement; it was a general fact. “My son studies at the university,” said another. “He has to fake it until he graduates. He even has to be a militant in the Young Communists in order to open doors and be trusted, and when they give him the first opportunity to travel, he will stay.”
There was a poignant silence. “We have to do what we can,” said the first guy. “The little we have is a pittance; we have to care for it more than if we had a lot. I can’t give myself the luxury of losing even a hair.”
“The parade, I’m going to the parade,” said the single man. “I will repudiate…I’m going to scream and kill if it’s necessary. I have to survive.”
Ángel Santiesteban-Prats
Lawton Prison Settlement. April 2014.
Have Amnesty International declare the dissident Cuban Angel Santiesteban a prisoner of conscience.
To sign the petition, follow the link.
Translated by Regina Anavy
7 May 2014
