Alberto de la Cruz — in my mind, one of the more gifted writers in the Cuban blogosphere — has written his reflections on this week's candlelight vigil in Miami for Cuban political prisoners:
I stepped up to the podium and looked down at the list of names written on the piece of paper before me. While I adjusted the microphone with one hand, I brought the lit candle I held in the other closer to the page so I can read the names in the dim light.Along with three other individuals, I had been asked to read aloud some of the more than 300 names of men, women, and children that are being held as prisoners of conscious in Cuba’s jails. We are all standing together in front of Versailles Restaurant on the famous Calle Ocho in Miami and all around us are over one hundred people, candles in hand, assembled for a candlelight vigil in recognition and support of these innocent victims of a despotic regime.
Clearing my throat, I read out loud the first name: Heriberto Castillo Sánchez
I continued to the next name, but for some reason the first name remained stuck in my mind. Did I know this person? Did I know someone who had the same name?
Trying to concentrate on the task at hand, I continued down the list but now every name sounded familiar to me. To my knowledge, I had never met any of these people. The knot that formed in my stomach, however, said something else. The names on the pages before me did not belong to faceless strangers—they belonged to the members of our Cuban family. I may have never met any of them, but the realization of who they are became clearer than ever to me: These people are our mothers, our fathers, our sisters, and our brothers.
Read the whole thing here.
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