The Canaleta prison in Ciego de Ávila houses some of Cuba's most notable political prisoners, men like Adolfo Domínguez and Antonio Díaz. A visit to the prison inspired Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez to write this about life in Cuba today, and ever-present tension between the tyranny of the dictatorship, and the freedom that is a mortal threat to its survival:
It is so easy to end up in prison, so short the road leading to a cell, we are all — potentially — convicts who pace the penitentiaries. A piece of beef bought in the black market, a couple sacks of cement purchased from an informal vendor, a piece of paper printed and distributed among a group of friends, or a furtive meeting to talk about the future, could lead us to these low-ceilinged prisons, concrete columns and photos of martyrs in the dining room. Freedom is usually considered an abstract concept, difficult to define or represent, a matter for philosophers; the prison, in contrast, is a thing of bricklayers, ironworkers and locksmiths. It is relatively easy to build a prison, what is hard is to outline the contours of freedom.
Once again, Sanchez shows that she is one of the leading architects of what a free Cuba might look like.
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