Cuban political prisoners have each other's backs

                             V. Arroyo                   E. Díaz                       H. Piña

Cuban political prisoners draw moral support from various quarters, among them, their families, fellow dissident activists and friends overseas.

But the most loyalty may come from their fellow political prisoners.

This week at Kilo 5 1/2 provincial prison in Piñar del Rio, political prisoners Eduardo Díaz Fleitas and Horacio Piña Borrego started hunger strikes to show solidarity with fellow prisoner of conscience Victor Arroyo Carmona after he was sent to a punishment cell for getting into an argument with a prison official.

Family members said Díaz and Piña were not sent to the dungeons, because to do so would have meant officials were acknowledging their protest.

Imagine that. You already are a prisoner in the Castro gulag, suffering the worst the dictatorship can throw at you. But you still find it in yourself to sacrifice your health to show your support for and solidarity with a brother.

It is that kind of courage and commitment that should assure those of us who care for these men of conscience that eventually, and despite the great odds against them, they will prevail