International Release of Book Written by Current Political Prisoner in Cuba
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

 

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, May 13, 2005 /Cuban Democratic Directorate/-- Last Friday Huber Matos, a former political prisoner who served 20 years in Castro’s prisons, launched the book Boitel Vive: Testimony of the real Cuban penitentiary written by Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez.”  Present at the event were John Suarez from the Cuban Democratic Directorate and via telephone sister of the author Berta Antúnez. The book was published by the Center for the Broadening and Development of Latin America (CADAL) and The Konrad Foundation, Huber Matos wrote the prologue for the book.

In 1990 “Antunez” was sentenced to 18 years in prison, his book written behind bars is dedicated to Pedro Luis Boitel, a leader in the struggle against dictator Fulgencio Batista and a pioneer of civic resistance in Castro's prisons. The release of the book not only coincides with the birthday of Boitel but with the recent news from the Cuban Commision for Human Rights of the detainment of 400 young Cubans declared by the government as “pre-criminally dangerous”.

In his book Antúnez narrates his experiences in the different prisons he has been since he was incarcerated in 1990.  He also denounces the inhuman unhygienic conditions he has been subject to as well as the negation of human rights in the Cuban penal system, especially towards political prisoners. Antunez states he has lost his “best years in prison for the only crime of not sharing the governments ideologies.”

The launch in Argentina was the first of a global campaign. Following will be the Miami release which is scheduled May 25, 2005 and will be held in the Ramón Guiteras Library located in Belen Jesuit High School, 500 SW 127 Ave.

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