AGAINST ALL HOPE, THE PRISON MEMOIRS OF ARMANDO VALLADARES,

Translated by Andrew Hurley, Hamish Hamilton 1986.

"From our point of view; we have no human rights problem-there have been no ‘disappeared’ here, there have been no murders here. In twenty-five years of revolution, in spite of the difficulties and dangers we have passed through, torture has never been committed"- Fidel Castro july28th 1983.

Not since Solzhenitsyn revealed the truth about the Gulag archipelago has there been such powerful testimony of the horrors of political repression. For against all hope is about the twenty-two years the author spent as a political prisoner in Cuba.

He tells of the violence and torture, the slaughter and deprivation of human rights that were, and continue to be, the daily reality for those in Cuba who oppose Castro.

The author’s rejection of all attempts at political ‘rehabilitation’ and his continued resistance and escape attempts led to brutal beatings and frequent spells of solitary confinement in the most appalling conditions.

He witnessed the notorious firing squads that were a feature of the new revolution and then, after his transfer to the infamous isle of Pines, began endless days of violence and harassment, putrid food and squalid living conditions, forced labour and illness.

And yet, almost entirely cut off as the prisoners were from the outside world, some way to smuggle in news was always found, some dignity preserved.

Even after the failure of his elaborate and hazardous attempt to escape that failed and left him crippled, he and other prisoners embarked on a hunger strike to bolster their spirits and, amidst the nightmare of his existence, Armando Valladares began to right poetry that was smuggled out and published in Europe and America and that won him the attention of public figures around the world, including president mitterand who finally personally intervened with Castro on his behalf.

Perhaps most astonishing of all, he met and fell in love with Martha, daughter of a fellow inmate, who waited for him and fought for his release throughout those terrible years.

Apart from an ‘ownership stamp’ on the fep, and slight light tanning to the page edges, both the book and the dust jacket are in good condition. The book is illustrated in black and white.