“By the time I was in prison [2012], we had a movement there called ´Orlando Zapata Tamayo Movement, Political Prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo´ [human rights activist in Cuba, died after 86 days on hunger strike], directed by Andrey F. Cuenca, there was also me and Leoncio, Alfredo Novarto Piñán [other political prisoners, friends of Jesús in prison], a series of inmates were there. We were all like brothers there. We made a huge general strike in a prison. That was the greatest experience I have ever had in prison, and something I liked the most. It was fascinating, that was a tremendous thing. I think that where only was it done was in Guantánamo, which even Andrey had commented, he made me understand, that demonstrations and strikes had been extinguished in other provinces by the Government. It was going to be tremendous and it was no less true that I had never seen strike like that in prison again and it never happened again. We made an impact on the complete prison of Guantánamo – we created a general strike so that a real pardon would be carried out, before the arrival of the Pope [Benedict VXI], that was going to arrive to Cuba in a month and three days, the arrival of the Pope was in May or April, I don't remember well.”
“They were like 15 inmates who were all organized by Coco, who took you while entering the detachment ´3B´, they would take you to a little room next to what was previously a dining room, that room was determined only for these situations. There, they sat you on a chair, I can tell, because I was also sat there. They make you sit on that chair, they all surround you and take a dining tray, or something with food, and they open your mouth, even with force, to force you to eat. If you do not eat, they tell you that they are going to beat you up, they even beat you. The police know about everything what is happening there, they just do not want to intervene.”
“In the Operations cell, that's how the saying goes: ´Who doesn´t sing with us, sings against us.’ Because there is a centre of torture of the Government, here in the city of Guantánamo. There is no bed, or it is not even a bed, it is a kind of hopper that is hanging on the wall with two chains at each end. In order to avoid that you rest during the day, they remove it at six in the morning, to force you to be awake, to throw you on the floor, it is infrahuman. It is what me and my colleague Peti experienced. In a cell for three people, they put nine. In that room you cannot even sleep, because they take you out at two in the morning or at three in the morning, they put you in an air-conditioned frozen room with practically no clothes on. There it is, I am telling you, like a torturing centre, which for them, they say, has given many results, that who is not with you, is against, and dozens of other things. The Operations represent a torture centre, they won't let your family to see you, and if they let them, you can´t tell them anything about your case.”
“Right here in Caimanera, this minefield begins, it practically goes from Caimanera, through Cayos, and where Boquerón is [cities in the province of Guantánamo]. There are written signages in which they say that you should not pass, it is a red road sign, that says ´no passage´, but this is the same in the city. Even during the rain, there are many threats to go over there, but there are people who have entered there, as they are used to do it, and they believe that they know the terrain, but there are many of them who have lost part of their body there, others have lost their lives. But in most of the cases, well to be more exact, always have been the Cubans, who have suffered from these situations in that minefield territory. The minefield is not for the Americans, it is for us, Cubans, so we should not be able to go there, to the US Navy Base or to seek political refuge. Because no American is going to come here, to do anything, not even an intervention.”
Jesús Manuel Peña Ramírez was born on March 17, 1987 in Guantánamo, Cuba. Jesús grew up in a family with an aversion to the Cuban Revolution from 1959. When the authorities called Jesús for compulsory military service, he declined even after considering all the problems this would mean for his future. In 2006, at the age of 19, he tried to illegally leave the country through the US naval base in Guantánamo. During the attempt, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison at “Combined of Guantánamo” [Combinado de Guantánamo]. While in prison, he joined the political opposition led by his friend from a neighboring cell, Isael Poveda Silva, and became a human rights activist. During his incarceration, he held hunger strikes and painted slogans on the walls such as “Fidel Castro Away,” or “End of Dictatorship.” When he left prison in July 2012, he joined the “Patriotic Union of Cuba“ [Unión Patriótica de Cuba]. Today, he is an active opponent of the Cuban regime. He participates in demonstrations for democracy, even though this means he must endure harsh responses from the system, including arrests, violent attacks on his person, and constant vigilance.
