Alex Saab, facing threats from the US empire: “Don’t let them dare, because there is a people here united to defend themselves.”

On Sunday, August 24, the Minister of Industry and National Production, Alex Saab, attended Plaza Bolívar in Caracas, where he participated in the Bolivarian Militia's enlistment rally in defense of Venezuela's peace, sovereignty, and integrity against threats from imperialism. Alex Saab, who is also president of the International Center for Productive Investment (CIIP), responded to US imperialism's threats … Continue reading Alex Saab, facing threats from the US empire: “Don’t let them dare, because there is a people here united to defend themselves.”

Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino Part 13: Blood Pressure; Prison Transfers; The knife under the bed; Visit of Cuban doctors to Ashland, Kentucky; The end; Meeting with Raúl; Our meeting with FIDEL, a dream come true

Blood pressure I remember I was in Miami for prison residency in 2010. One day while playing handball I sprained my foot, it was swollen and painful, so I went to the doctor. He gave me a general check-up, and he detected that my blood pressure was very high. They started treating me with Amlodipine … Continue reading Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino Part 13: Blood Pressure; Prison Transfers; The knife under the bed; Visit of Cuban doctors to Ashland, Kentucky; The end; Meeting with Raúl; Our meeting with FIDEL, a dream come true

THE LEGAL BATTLE There is no other homeland for Cubans than the one we conquer with our own effort José Martí, Key West, January 1894 My attorney Williams Norris My lawyer William Norris came to visit me, and told me that if there was another trial, the same evidence could not be used. We were … Continue reading Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino Part 12: My attorney Williams Norris; Resentence

UNICOR UNICOR is a company that hires inmates to work inside the prison, it is the exquisite business of the millionaires of the 21st century, the slave labor of the century. Every prison has a UNICOR factory. Companies, including military companies, use prisons to make uniforms and other items. If they produce it outside they … Continue reading Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino Part 11: UNICOR; Commissary; Telephone; The Prison School; The Library; Art in Prison; We Won the Appeal

Hurtado Camacho This episode has to do with Hurtado Camacho, my personal friend. His story is a peculiar case. Hurtado was imprisoned as a young man in Cuba. He was quite mischievous, he specialized in stealing from the rooftops, he was imprisoned at the age of eighteen during the Mariel period, when some inmates decided … Continue reading Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino Part 10: Hurtado Camacho; The Yoruba Prison; Ariel Hernandez; Pedro Pagés; Lazaro Veliz; Diosdado Suárez, the Guajiro; Lockdowns; The typewriter; The shakedowns

Prison and coexistence In prison it is very difficult to help or be in solidarity with someone, because sometimes you can be misunderstood. On several occasions I felt sorry for those I thought were unprotected, because they had a disability or thought they were fragile, when I saw how others abused or mistreated them, so … Continue reading Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino Part 9: Prison and Coexistence; Saturday, September 6, 2003; Saturday, November 22; Money in Prison; Indians in the Prisons, White Bear; To Be or Not to Be a Boss in Prison; Rafael Garden

High, medium, and low security prisons The outside part of the cell is what is called the yard or the camp out. It is the open area where you can sunbathe and walk around the yard, and it includes all the outside area, where you can move from one place to another, go from the … Continue reading Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino Part 8: High, medium, and low security prisons; The different prisons I have been in; Provocations; Cook for hire; The white priest; Friday, May 30, 2003; Friday, June 6, 2003; Saturday, June 7, 2003

The cursed television Johnson was a real big guy. Dark, almost six feet tall and four hundred pounds. In Beaumont everyone respected him. He was the only one who dared to work cleaning the guards' offices, because those who did so were branded as informers and could not live in peace. But he had a … Continue reading Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino Part 7: The cursed television; Handball practice and physical injuries; Light in the Darkness; Excerpts from the Radio Rebelde program La Luz en la Oscuridad. March 1st, 2015; The cells

Tuberculosis and other infectious diseases Another sensitive issue I had to face was the fact that in prisons there are many people with tuberculosis. There were also people with AIDS. Its contagion was high and frequent, mainly in drug addicts, since they shared the needles with which they injected the drug. This disease they tried … Continue reading Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino [one of the Cuban 5 heroes] Part 6: Tuberculosis and other infectious diseases; Aggressive sexuality; Maggie; Boniato (Sweet potato); A chair out of place; Internal life of the mafias; A death threat

Crazy American Indian One day a new inmate arrived, an American Indian. He was a monster, huge, much taller than me, weighed almost five hundred pounds, strong and very corpulent. He entered the cell at almost twelve o'clock at night and the guard said to me: Medina, whether you want him to sleep with you … Continue reading Hombre del Silencio: The Prison Diary of Ramon Labanino [one of the Cuban 5 heroes] Part 5: Crazy American Indian; Drug Trafficking; The Diary; The Chess Game; The First Murder and Prison Violence