» Articles

Encounter at a distance
By Janisset Rivero

 

This Mother’s Day, early in the morning, I received the best present I could ever ask for: Cuban mothers, on the island and in exile, gathered at a distance via video-conference.

 

On both sides there were women committed to freedom in Cuba, with the daily task of alleviating the suffering of political prisoners; woman who have suffered pain and oppression, women who not only dream of a better future for Cuba, but also work toward that end.

 

From the island, the Ladies in White, wives, mothers and sisters of political prisoners, dressed in the color of purity, armed with dignity and love for their families and their country, told how they had marched through the main streets of Havana with flowers in their hands. They had left an arrangement of flowers at the monument to Indian women, to remember the first mothers that had inhabited our land. With pictures of their husbands on white t-shirts, they spoke of their struggle and their hope. They narrated how the Cuban people greeted them, supported them, and blessed them through the streets, meanwhile the regime fruitlessly sent its paramilitary gangs.

 

In exile there were more mothers, like the former political prisoner María Amalia Fernández del Cueto, who served 19 years in prison, and whose daughter was born in prison; and Miriam de la Peña, whose son was assassinated over international waters by the Cuban regime having been born in the United Status; and Laida Carro, granddaughter of a woman whose son was executed for thinking differently from the Castro brothers. Blanca González, mother of political prisoner Normando Hernández, was also present and was able to see her granddaughter, Daniela on the screen, whom she had never met.

 

We cried on both sides, not from sadness, but for love of that land to which we belong. Those tears brought us closer to each other and closer to the cause.

 

To see them was an opportunity to put a face to their beloved voices, to recognize the features of courage and the strength that comes from love when everything seems impossible. I felt very close to them. For a moment, the sound of their voices and their chants of liberty filled my soul with insurmountable faith in the Cuban epolpe that have decided to be free at all costs and to confront hate.

 

I thought of how happy their husbands, sons and brothers must be: José Daniel and Luis Enrique Ferrer, Normando Hernández, Francisco Chaviano, Héctor Maseda, Librado Linares, Ángel Moya, Diosdado González.

 

The list would be long, as long and wide as the courage of the Cuban people. I also thought about Mario Manuel de la Peña, our beloved Mario, despicably murdered over international waters, in his serene airplane, for bearing water and light to the desperate.

 

There is a future for Cuba, not because it is dictated by the nostalgia of exiles or the whim of those absent, but because the seed of Pedro Luis Boitel, whose birth was remembered on that same day, May 13th, has germinated in new Cubans, who do not surrender in the face of aggressions by State Security, who do not break down before the pain of the present, who resist, who dream, who will overcome.

 

Send by E-mail | Printable Version

 


About the author


Janniset Rivero Janisset Rivero
Janisset Rivero is a founding Directorio member. Janisset has worked extensively in engaging directly with opposition groups in Cuba, relaying their messages to the international community and coordinating humanitarian support for them. She is co-author of "Steps to Freedom," a Directorio annual report that documents the opposition movement's actions of protest against the totalitarian regime.

 

Directorio Democrático Cubano
P.O. Box 110235
Hialeah, Florida 33011
Tel. 305-220-2713
info@directorio.org

© Copyright 2006 Directorio Democrático Cubano. All rights reserved.