Havana Book Note

Wow! In Havana, a book authored in part by one of the 75(6) imprisoned during Black Spring, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez and titled Enterrados Vivos, or Buried Alive, was presented to a crowd which included a veritable who’s who. Attending were 30 Damas de Blanco, or Ladies in White, such noted figures as Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz and René Gómez Manzano, and a number of the released under medical paroles and strict conditions members of the original group of prisoners. In addition to Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, this group included Roberto de Miranda Hernández, Marcelo López Bañobre, Jorge Olivera Castillo and Orlando Fundora Álvarez. Also in attendance, the head of the US Interests Section, Michael Parmly, and 2 other American diplomats, as well as a Czech official.
An interesting note is that both Bush and Zapatero have been given copies and sent responses. Bush expressed his admiration at the risk Maceda was taking and his hope that the world will notice the regime’s human rights abuses. Zapatero sent his assurances that Spain will continue doing all it can to seek their release. He used the occasion, since Laura Pollan of the Ladies in White is Maceda’s wife, to convey his admiration for the the dignity, courage and tenacity of that organization.
The information here is from a report by Carlos Serpa Maceira, available at Misceláneas de Cuba in Spanish.