Versión Español
EspañolCuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado, better known as “El Sexto” managed to get out a letter from the Valle Grande prison outside Havana, Cuba in which he alludes to the struggle against the Castro regime.
The letter entitled “Reply 33” and signed on December 8, was published on Facebook by his wife Alexandra Martinez, who lives in Miami.
“I am the age of Christ when he was stoned and crucified by the people … I did not attack any barracks, nor did I have a rifle in my hand. I have pen, paper and spray,” Maldonado wrote after several days of incarceration.
After the death of Fidel Castro, he wrote in graffiti “He’s gone.”
“As long as we continue to lower our heads with a salary of disgust, with nothing to eat, emigrating and demanding from the outside what we are not able to demand as human beings here … (those things) will remain the norm of Cuban society.”
“The people of Cuba march under the sun and shout slogans like ‘I am Fidel Castro,’ but many are silent, because the people of Cuba are scared, and if you are scared, you cannot be free,” he said, making clear reference to the funeral of the deceased dictator. “What will be the future of my daughter Renata Maria if you continue praising murderers?”
Maldonado is accused of damaging public property, and has reportedly “dropped a few pounds, is very haggard, they already pelted him … they shaved him, but he is in high and grateful spirits,” his mother Maria Victoria Machado said after a visit to the prison.
Friends, family and organizations have launched a campaign for the release of El Sexto, collecting signatures on Change.org that will be sent to President Raul Castro.
Sources: Cubanet; Diario las Américas; Martí Noticias.
