From Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas

Havana, April 8, 2008

José Miguel Martínez Hernández, 40 years of age, is married with two children. His family is Catholic—respected and loved in their community. He is a member of the Christian Liberation Movement (Movimiento Cristiano Liberación—MCL) and one of the prisoners of the Cuban Spring.

Miguelito, as he is known, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for that—for spreading hope, for contributing to an opening in the Cuban Spring by working transparently to promote the Varela Project.

Miguelito has served time in various prisons throughout Cuba since he was unjustly sentenced. Now in Quivicán Prison, state security officials visit him to ask for his opinion or reaction regarding the upcoming performance of the famous author, singer-songwriter, and former national assemblyman Silvio Rodríguez. Soon he will perform at this prison, as he has at other prisons in Cuba. They are training, interviewing and informing many common prisoners as they prepare the prison like a large set for the talented singer’s performance. Surely he will be accompanied by many film crews who will show how “happy” the prisoners are in these small prisons, almost happier than in the large prison that is our archipelago.

Something very serious is going on there, and Silvio Rodríguez and his companions should know that they should take bottled water or drink what the officials are drinking. The only water prisoners have to drink is available only a few moments a day. It is generally very dark and dirty, and the prisoners must wait for the water to clear a bit before collecting it in improvised jars. The problem is that while the pipes—meant for potable water—are empty, they absorb waste and dirty contaminated water through their many cracks.

Silvio Rodriguez

There is not enough space in this article to describe the unhealthy conditions in which prisoners must conduct their essential business, or how the floor is constantly contaminated, or the conditions in which they eat the often repugnant meals prepared as food for prisoners in most of Cuba’s prisons.

José Miguel Martínez, a prisoner of conscience imprisoned only for peacefully defending the rights of Cubans, informs us that there is an outbreak of tuberculosis at Quivicán prison. There are believed to be positive cases in detachments numbers 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11. Prison authorities, as they “prepare” for Silvio Rodríguez’ performance, are trying to control the outbreak, the causes of which I do not think require explanation.

The prisoners in Cuban prisons, and the citizens of the prison of Cuba, do not need verses sung to them that are used to falsify life and present the oppression that they suffer as if it were liberty.

The mission of the artist is to be a voice for those who do not have a voice, not for those who silence others with fear.

Hopefully many artists will join the people and convert to the cause of liberty, and thereby free themselves. I do not see why many artists wouldn’t have the humility, the strength, and the love in their hearts—to go with their talent—for this renovation.

Miguelito, the Quivicán prisoner from the Cuban Spring, responded that “he was not at all interested in Silvio’s visit. I know well that he did not say this with hatred, but with indignation in the face of a great fraud. Miguelito parodied to me a song by the same artist: before and after Silvio Rodríguez’ visit, the prisoners of Quivicán—and in all of Cuba’s prisons, due to their cruel and inhumane treatment—will continue “dreaming of snakes.”

Although Miguelito won’t be dreaming of snakes, he will be dreaming of liberty for his people. He has a dream, like all of the Cuban Spring prisoners, for the right to dream of all Cubans, a dream that is ours—like Martin Luther King’s dream—a dream of justice and peace, of reconciliation, a dream that is the certain hope of those of us who struggle and have faith. It is the dream of liberation.