Dear Sir:

Last week, I was able to get a copy of the April 1977 issue of the UNESCO Bulletin, in which you make a call in support of journalists who are victims of oppression and censure.

I am a journalist, jailed for 14 years for maintaining my intellectual and professional integrity. I was sentenced in Trial No. 10/964 to 18 years. In it, I declared “I am a journalist who has been arrested for doing my job of informing the public. In this trial it has been demonstrated that I am neither a revolutionary nor a counterrevolutionary. That I have neither received money nor instructions from anybody, and that I have not “conspired” with foreigners or with Cubans.”

As a journalist, I interviewed a guerrilla leader who had taken up arms against the government of Fidel Castro. It was published under a pseudonym in more than 100 newspapers. I was arrested months after conducting the interview.

My interrogation in the State Security Headquarters was conducted by “Juanito,” a man whom I had known since childhood. He gave me two choices: 1) to “cooperate” with them and appear on TV condemning the international reaction to the interview; or, 2) to be taken in front of a firing squad. I did not yield. I kept asserting that I was carrying out my professional duties of informing and orienting the public.

Juanito ended the interrogation by saying: “I’ll give you 18 years to think about it. Cooperate!” As it was later demonstrated, my “trial” was a simple affirmation of this announcement. The Tribunal presides over cases already decided by the Political Police (State Security).

In prison, I have been forced to work in quarries under the blows of bayonets and machetes, many times in bare feet and in underwear. I was thrown into a putrid trench with excrement waste. I was beaten repeatedly.

On January 5, 1971 I was thrown into one of the “tapiadas” [cells without bars, closed off by a metal plate] of Boniato prison. I was one of the victims of biological and psychological experiments.

I developed scurvy and liver problems and my body swelled so much that I felt about to explode. After my fellow prisoners banged furiously against the doors to get the guards to get me medical attention, I was taken to the infirmary and given some pills and injections. I urinated constantly and in 5 days I lost 50 pounds. At the 6th day I was returned to the tapiada. During these experiments, some prisoners lost their lives, among them were:

Esteban RAMOS Keissel
Ibrahim TORRES Martínez
José R. CASTILLO del Pozo

Yours truly,

José Carreño

Return to Second Decade of the Communists

Return to Political Prisoners 1959 - present

Return to Main Index