September 08, 2007
Courage will never kill you
One morning, we will wake up and we will learn that Cuban political prisoner Normando Hernández González is dead.
The news will be heart-breaking, it will make us angry, but it will not be surprising. The "wonders" of Cuban health care are not available in prison, especially for prisoners of conscience like the independent journalist Hernández, for whom the dictatorship saves its worst treatment.
Hernández is a very sick man, suffering from a litany of ailments. Maybe he already should be dead.
Gastrointestinal malabsorption syndrome.
Giardia.
Duodenitis.
Irritable bowel and colon.
Vitamin deficiency.
Undernourishment.
Migraines.
Two compressed vertabrae.
Severe hypertension.
Loss of vision.
Tuberculosis.
And he's only 37 years old.
A doctor tells Hernández, there's only so much she can do for him.
Hernández, he wrote recently, figures prison officials, on behalf of the dictatorship, are trying to kill him.
"Every day, the pain is more intense, everything I eat causes gastric pains," he wrote. "I have had as many as nine diarrheas per day, and have to daily take 19 medicines.
"They are assassinating me, in a premeditated way. It is something macabre."
A lesser man — a man without Hernández's love of country and of freedom, and a proven willingness to dedicate his body and soul to the struggle against the dictatorship — might already be dead.
The courage to persevere exhibited by Hernández, who is serving a 25-year sentence handed down in 2003, and other Cuban political prisoners is beyond the experience of most men. That is a good thing — I, for one, don't want to spend time in a Cuban prison. But I cannot help but think they know something about life and the power of suffering the rest of us will never know, and we will be lesser for it.
Most of us would give up, but Hernández and too many others like him, have not. The potential rewards, whether in this world — a free Cuba — or the next — eternal salvation — are too great.
And for their courage, all of us, all of Cuba, should be grateful.
Posted by Marc at September 8, 2007 08:13 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.babalublog.com/cgi-bin/mt/hut.cgi/6021
Comments
We took to the streets of Miami for Elian whose life was not in imminent danger, yet we let our fellow Cubans die in these prisons without much protest. This is the kind of stuff for which we need a mass protest in front of the UN building or some other place where it will have a great impact. Politicians who want our votes, shouldnt be talking about embargoes and democracy they should be talking first and foremost about the welfare of these heroes.
Posted by: Roberto ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 8, 2007 09:16 AM
One morning, we will wake up and we will learn that Cuban political prisoner Normando Hernández González is dead.
Hey Marc, I have the upmost respect for you and all you do to promote the cause of a free Cuba, but I don't understand the defeatist tone of this post. We have so much to be optimistic about, with fidel dead or a vegetable and raul MIA, apparently checking out golf courses in Italy...Normando Hernández González fights on. I personally think that we should hope and pray for the day he is free, rather than resign ourselves to his murder, before it has even happened.
Posted by: Frankestein En La Playa at September 8, 2007 06:33 PM
Your point is well taken, and perhaps I was overly negative. I, too, am optimistic about the future, as long as Cubans, and their supporters around the world, are quick to seize the historic moment before us.
But the fact remains that Hernandez and other prisoners are in a very bad state, and too much of the world doesn't give a damn. If their suffering is allowed to continue, it is inevitable that they will begin to die behind bars. Their courage may not kill them, but at some point, it will no longer save them either.
Posted by: Marc R. Masferrer at September 8, 2007 09:28 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
