“I read a lot. For example, I read from the Bible every day. I also wrote a lot of letters to my parents and my daughter. I tried to use the time… I drew and worked out. My thoughts were never locked behind bars. Mentally I walked through all the fields, all the cities… every place I had visited as a child. That helped me… Many prisoners asked me how I could remain so calm when others went crazy after three years. I believed in God and held onto thoughts of freedom.”
“My maternal grandmother sent me a letter to prison… my grandmother was a simple hill country girl who could hardly write anything. She told me: ‘My dear grandson, don’t forget to smile, even if the pain kills you.’ My dear grandmother… I will never forget it, I will always have those words in my heart…”
"I arrived at Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey and was sent to the maximum security section. These are cells that are 1.80 meters wide and 3 meters long. If I had to compare it to something… it’s like dying and then rising from the dead, maybe like Jesus Christ, but no one is like that. As for us mortals, it is among the prisoners that one can find people, who can describe what hell looks like. There were prisoners of all categories and from all corners of the country. There was no sleep day or night. Constant arguments, shouting, endless fighting. Everyone suffered a lot mentally. When it came time to count the prisoners… the guards always entered and counted the prisoners. One for each cell. When they came to your cell, they talked to the one next to you… they told him it was his last day, that it was over. They were talking like that to people sentenced to death. During the time I was there, more than twenty people committed suicide. They shouted that they would kill themselves before the government murdered them. Horrible things were happening there…“
"Four members of our group set off ahead. The three of us followed them—I, Armando Sosa Fortuny, and Jesús Rodas Pineda. In the distance, the lights of a car could be seen coming from a small island connected to the mainland by a road. I later learned that it was called Santa María. At that distance it was not clear whether it was a car or a truck. As it got closer it turned out to be a Lada motor vehicle. I stopped it and ordered the passengers to get out of the car and stand together. I kept my distance from the car the whole time, standing about four meters away from them. At first they only came out from one side, but when they started coming out from the other side, it became clear to me that there were more of them than I had thought. I stepped back a little and felt for my weapon, I had an AR-15. At that moment, a volley came out of the weapon. I had been practicing with an AK-47. But this was an AR-15, which is a replica of an M-16… it has a completely different mechanism. I didn't notice that I had set the gun to automatic fire mode instead of the safety. So when I reached for the gun, a seven-shot burst went off, and a person who was walking in front of the car was hit by several bullets."
"It's not so much about how many men and weapons you have. I think that a well-planned action can bear fruit. After all, those who are at the helm of the country now and have maintained a dictatorial regime for 60 years also tried this several times. And in the end they succeeded against General Batista's army, which was much larger and better armed. I am convinced that the people here in Cuba would join the fight. I do not mean to say that armed struggle is the only possible way. I think that a turn towards democracy can come from ordinary people, if someone brave enough takes the initiative. But war cannot be ruled out. We Cubans have been accustomed to taking up arms since the days of the struggle for independence. The original inhabitants were no sheep either. Many of them were very rebellious and they were not afraid to stand up to the Spanish conquerors.“
"I longed to see the United States. With God’s help, we set sail from the Cuban coast near the town of Carbonera on June 16, 1991, en route to Varadero. On June 24, the crew of the Discovery One picked us up on the high seas. Then they transported us to the territory of the United States of America. By then, our raft had been drifting for eight days. We had to resort to eating fresh seagulls. We ate fish that jumped out of the water onto the raft, fleeing from other marine predators… Getting to know the reality in the USA was the best thing that ever happened to me. It encouraged me tremendously. I instilled in myself political ideas that I will honor until the day I die. I learned what true freedom meant, joined a political party, and underwent military training to return to Cuba with a gun in my hand."
Humberto Eladio Real Suárez was born on 18 February 1968 in Matanzas. His father was a driver and his mother worked in a café. His childhood in the Versalles neighborhood on the banks of the River Yumurí was marked by games with friends through which he discovered the world around him. They often ran away from school and went swimming in the river. Humberto had three siblings. He was the eldest of them all, and all four of them were very mischievous. While playing, they often damaged their clothing and shoes and the family always had to wait a long time for the ration book to be able to buy new clothing. At the time, however, young Humberto did not think much about that. In general, it can be said that he had a happy childhood, except perhaps for the constant indoctrination attempts he faced at school, which bothered him from an early age. His wild nature and desire for a life that did not require him to be dependent on his surroundings naturally resulted in repeated arrests. After being questioned several times at the police station, he decided to try to emigrate to the US. Together with his friend, they chose the sea route and set off on a raft towards the shores of Florida. After several days in the dangerous waters separating Cuba and the United States, they were rescued by the crew of an American ship. In exile, Humberto learned the charm of life in freedom, which led him to decide to join a diversionary group that was planning a mission to Cuba to incite guerrilla warfare against the regime from the Escambray Mountains. Humberto underwent military training and set out to sea again in October 1994 with six other members of the group, including Armando Sosa Fortuny. The group encountered serious complications early on in their mission, and after landing at Caibarién, Humberto accidentally shot a man. The small group later clashed with soldiers who arrested them. A trial in Cuba followed, from which Humberto was sentenced to death. This was commuted to 30 years in prison a few years later, in 2010. Humberto spent a total of 28 years and 15 days in Cuban prisons, making him one of the longest-serving political prisoners in the Western Hemisphere.
