It’s hard to believe that we are seeing Gladys go in and out of her very small, but homey house, on the outskirts of Belico en Placetas, right in front of the slaughterhouse and less than 50 meters from the Casallas Park.
It wasn’t long ago that her home was a warehouse for livestock and what sustained her was the trash contained in a nearby trash bin. Yesterday, she ate what she found in the trash bin and dressed her and her daughter from what she found there. Today, this black Cuban woman and her small daughter — who were abandoned, by a regime that she served faithfully as a prison official, as a veteran of the Angola wars and in various tours in the Communist military — thanks the ladies of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights and the Resistance Assembly for her good fortune.
Her daughter breaks our hearts when, seeing us, she comments, “Aunt and Uncle, finally I have a house. Look how they have brought us new clothes and shoes. I have thrown away the ones that I got from the trash bin.”
I am appalled by the rage shown by the repressors and by the security officials when they witness the fortune of this women who did not give in to the pressures and the blackmail of those who visited her who attempted to turn her against the fight for human rights, who insisted to the dictatorship that they solve her situation in 48 hours or they would have to deal with hunger strikes and protests. Within a few minutes of this ultimatum, she was admitted to a hospital and within hours received the keys to her new home.
Nothing else is discussed in Placetas except this incident. Thanks to the folks who support human rights, Gladys Espinosa and her daughter have a place to live. This demonstrates another victory for human solidarity and another example of what can be done.
Translated by Ya Viene Llegando
