Christmas In Cuba ”Paradise” With Many Slaves

Christmas In Cuba "Paradise" With Many Slaves / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on December 28, 2013

Enslaved prisoners

December 25th: The inmates of Cuban prisons have worked in the condition
of slaves which they find themselves.

For them there is no Christmas or New Year. All they will have is to
exercise their muscles to fulfill the tough work which the regime
obliges them to do.

At a recent meeting, a chief of prisons, publicly stated that he
preferred working with prisoners versus civilians, because the latter
left when they finished their 8-hour working day, while the prisoners
could go many days with no rights, not even to protest, infinitesimal
pay, and cheap food. Compare that to what the Cuban officials say in
Geneva, that Cuban prisoners are respected with regards to salaries and
hours, when from dawn to dusk the sweat runs down their poorly paid and
badly fed backs.

After several days with a menu of rice, soup and eggs alternating with
hash, they offer them for Christmas dinner, rice, peas and eggs. They
don't protest because the blackmail is constant. If they don't go along
they're sent to closed prisons, lose their passes and the annual two
months credit, and even the possibility of getting out on parole when
they've served half their sentence.

The only thing that remains is ability to work, bite your tongue, and
every time you have the opportunity to take revenge, do your work badly.

After every sunrise they look at the horizon, and all they see is
permanent darkness.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

Lawton Prison settlement. December 2013

Translated by: Shane J. Cassidy

27 December 2013

Source: Christmas In Cuba "Paradise" With Many Slaves / Angel
Santiesteban | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/christmas-in-cuba-paradise-with-many-slaves-angel-santiesteban/