Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag

Gripping memoir of Cuban political prisoner Armando Valladares. Arrested at 23, in 1960, for refusing to put a sign giving support of Fidel Castro on his government desk, Valladares spent 22 years in prison, enduring continuous mistreatment, undernourishment, beatings and lack of medical treatment. Somehow he managed to keep sane and committed to standing up to the regime.

The authorities brutally try to force the political prisoners to enroll in "political rehabilitation," but Valladares and some others stand firm. Beatings, collective punishment of co-inmates and family members, forcing the prisoners into the sewers are some of the means that are employed. Self-injury and techniques for breaking arms developed as people sought to avoid show more the hard forced labor. It is strange how one thing must have lead to another, had the regime not insisted on total subordination and not set up all these sham trials in the first place, it would have avoided these difficult prisoners. Valladares lead several hunger strikes, which seemed to be very effective. A puzzling question is why.

Valladares is highly critical of the UN and Red Cross' efforts and their lack of speaking out against the treatment of the political prisoners. Amnesty International on the other hand get a very good rep and is credited with much of the responsibility for getting him freed.

The prisoners found inspiration in small acts of resistance, like not wearing the common prisoners' uniform, refusing to take small concessions, fooling the guards. show less

For Ed, With Warmest Regards. A. Valladares

Armando Valladares relata en este libro lo vivido durante el regimen de Fidel Castro, y su experiencia como preso politico.
Arrestado en 1960 por ser opositor filosófico y religioso al comunismo. Su vida en las prisiones de Castro fueron un infierno donde se dio violencia, trabajos forzados, comida podrida y condiciones asquerosas de vida, sin dejar aparte las ejecuciones de personas inocentes solo por ser opositoras al gobierno de Fidel.
Valladares encontró su fuerza en la oración y poesía. Siendo finalmente liberado en 1982 como el resultado de la de organizaciones mundiales de los derechos humanos.