Armando Valladares

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Armando Valladares Pérez (* 30th May 1937 in Pinar del Río ) is a Cuban writer and a former ambassador to the United States in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights . He was imprisoned in Cuba for 22 years (1960–1982) as an opponent of the revolution.

Life

Armando Valladares Pérez studied at the National Art Academy in Havana until 1956 and immediately afterwards began his work in the Cuban public service. Among other things, he worked in the Ministry of Transport. After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, it was subjected to a political review, which initially remained without consequences. On December 27, 1960, Valladares was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison. There are several versions of the reasons for the conviction. He spent his imprisonment in various Cuban prisons and penal camps, some in solitary confinement , in the dark and under torture . After he refused to participate in political rehabilitation , he was deprived of food for 46 days. As a result, he spent several years in a wheelchair . Valladares developed into a writer and poet during his imprisonment and chose the years in a wheelchair as the title of his first volume of poetry: Desde mi Silla de Ruedas (German: From my wheelchair ). Amnesty International recognized Valladares as a prisoner of conscience. The Cuban government publicly referred to Valladares as the former secret police of the dictator Fulgencio Batista and as simulators .

After 22 years of imprisonment, Valladares was released in October 1982 due to international pressure - in particular, the French President François Mitterrand had campaigned for him with Fidel Castro. However, the Cuban government insisted that Valladares had to climb the stairs of the plane to Paris under his own steam in order to expose him as a simulator. Shortly after arriving in Europe , he emigrated to the USA. In 1985 his autobiography of the imprisonment was published. President Ronald Reagan appointed him from 1988 to 1990 as the representative of the USA on the UN Human Rights Commission.

Valladares is a member of the international advisory board of the Foundation for a Memorial to the Victims of Communism ( Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation ), which was founded in 1993 by a resolution of the US Congress confirmed by US President Bill Clinton with the aim of protecting future generations about the To inform history of "communist tyranny".

Valladares is married and was close friends with Pedro Luis Boitel .

Awards

Fonts

  • Con su propia sangre
  • Desde mi Silla de Ruedas , 1976
  • El Corazón Con Que Vivo: Nuevos Poemas y Relatos desde mi Silla de Ruedas , Ediciones Universal, 1980, ISBN 0-89729-245-6
  • Cavernas del Silencio , 1983
  • Contra Toda Esperanza: 22 Años en el Gulag de las Américas , 1985
    • English edition: Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag , Encounter Books, 1985, ISBN 1-893554-19-8
    • German edition: Against all hope: prisoner under Fidel Castro. Memories , DVA, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-421-06391-5
  • El Alma de un Poeta , 1988

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ El retorno de las viejas momias: Armando Valladares in: Cubadebate of March 5, 2010, accessed on November 13, 2011 (Spanish)
  2. ^ US Tones Down Strategy to Fight Cuba on Human Rights . In: Miami Herald , February 28, 1988, p. 1A. 
  3. ↑ Sims Flap Shows Miami at Divisive Worst . In: Miami Herald , Jan. 8, 1991, p. 1B. 
  4. ↑ Website of the Foundation for a Memorial to the Victims of Communism ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on November 13, 2011 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / victimsofcommunism.org
personal data
SURNAME Valladares, Armando
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Valladares Pérez, Armando (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 30, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Pinar del Río