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    Cubans... and their loved ones

    A photographic exhibit of political prisoners and their families

    Photograph of Miguel Angel Fernandez Crespo

    Click here to go to photo gallery

    "Cubans… and their Loved Ones" tells the story of oppression in Cuba through thirty photos of Cuban political prisoners and their families. This is the story of people like Raúl Rivero, Vladimiro Roca Antuñez, Lucas Ramón Basulto, Oscar Elias Biscet, Mayda Barbara Jordan Contreras and hundreds more whose "crimes" consist of expressing their opinions openly.

    As best described by Soren Triff from El Nuevo Herald, "This exhibit allows us to see, for the first time, the face of Cuban dissidents and their families. This is a rare and largely unprecedented showing, for seldom has the world seen the faces of dissent in totalitarian countries while their foe was still in power. We owe this glimpse of Cuban reality to the courage of the prisoners' families, and to the brave determination of the artist -who for the time being shall remain unnamed- who went house to house, against all odds.

    Who are the Cubans in these photographs? Young and old; working class, doctors or teachers; former government bureaucrats, or someone who saw combat in Angola, or studied in the Soviet Union; someone who partook of those larger-than-life revolutionary plans an attended mass rallies at Revolution Plaza. What sets these men and women apart, is that they challenged the regime publicly.

    As for their relatives: seniors, women, children; black, white, mulatto. All suffer the consequences of the government's repression: routine threats; firings; harassment or expulsion from school; eviction. The government not only punishes the 'enemy within,' but also terrorizes society, the dissident's family, friends, neighbors and fellow workers. Although intimate, these portraits are disquieting. The children stare innocently at the camera; the adults, showing no rancor or hate, seem satisfied to bear witness. Theirs is the serenity that comes from doing what is right. Through their eyes, a helpless nation stares at us reminding us they have no rights, no future. Theirs is a moral convocation to solidarity."1

    The U.S. Agency for International Development and the Center for a Free Cuba hope this exhibition conveys the Cuban people's struggle for freedom of expression and hopes for freedom. Through its Cuba Program, USAID is fully committed to continue helping the people of Cuba develop civil society and promoting a rapid and peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba.

    USAID thanks the Center for a Free Cuba for the loan of this exhibition. For additional information on these images please visit www.cubacenter.org


    1 "The Other Cubans" Soren Triff. December 2002.

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