August 11, 2007
Chaviano, "back from hell", remains defiant
''I am back from hell,'' Chaviano, 54, told El Nuevo Herald from his home in Jaimanitas, west of Havana. "If Dante had known the Combinado del Este [prison], he would not have needed his imagination to write The Inferno. He simply would have told what he saw there.''
''I spent five years stuck in a cell without seeing the sun, two years without receiving visitors and four years without conjugal visits,'' he added. "It was a cruel, merciless treatment that was also extended to my family, my wife and my children.''
More from the Miami Herald article:
Chaviano, a mathematics professor at Havana's Institute of Chemistry, was arrested on May 7, 1994, and sentenced by a military tribunal to 15 years in prison on charges that he ''disclosed secrets concerning the state security'' and falsified documents.He had been chairman of the Cuban Civil Rights Council, an organization that supported civil liberties and denounced the penetration of State Security agents into the dissident movement. His case had been brought to the attention of the human rights branches of the United Nations and Organization of American States.
Chaviano said prison life had seriously harmed his health, and that he now suffers from a rapidly growing tumor in one of his lungs and a serious heart condition. During the last two years, he was hospitalized several times with serious pulmonary and cardiac problems, he said.
''The damage in my lungs I owe to them [the government]. In Cuba, imprisonment kills,'' Chaviano said.
But he added that he will not seek exile abroad and vowed to continue to actively oppose the government from inside the island.
''This country is a disaster,'' he said. ``The economic pauperization is visible.''
The El Nuevo Herald has more in Spanish, here.
Posted by Ziva at August 11, 2007 03:45 PM
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Comments
Out of one prison.
Posted by: Firefly ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at August 11, 2007 07:43 PM
When is Castro going to realize that he lost the game long ago?
Posted by: Yankee Doodle at August 11, 2007 10:46 PM
Castro-either Castro, will never give up or concede anything.
Posted by: emily_nelson at August 12, 2007 07:33 AM
What courage. My respect and admiration to Chaviano for standing so firm on his beliefs.
Posted by: Dave Sandoval at August 12, 2007 09:10 AM
"I am back from hell. If Dante had known the Combinado del Este [prison], he would not have needed his imagination to write The Inferno. He simply would have told what he saw there."
Where's Danny and Harry and Chawlie when you need 'em...?
Posted by: George L. Moneo at August 12, 2007 09:28 AM
George, the problem, at least in part, is that nobody REALLY needs them, and deep down, perhaps subconsciously, they probably know it (even if they can't admit it, even to themselves). They're overpaid, overindulged, overrated FRILLS, so they try to compensate by playing the role of "serious" and "committed" activists, humanitarians and dragon slayers. It's all a crock, but the media plays along beautifully, and there's never a shortage of useful idiots to swallow the bait. It's all theatrics, which figures, after all. That's what these people DO.
Posted by: asombra at August 12, 2007 12:52 PM
George,
Couldn't agree with your above comments more. Where are the castro apologists now?
But then they were no where to be found when Valdares' (I'm probably botching the man's name) book was published.
How can the dictatorship let González talk?
In any event, God bless him and hopefully that wonderful healthcare system there can now take care of him.
Or maybe Moore can take him to a hospital in the USA for care?
Posted by: JackW at August 12, 2007 12:58 PM
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