On December 24 I wrote a post entitled “An empty chair,” where we celebrated the fifth Christmas without the presence of Adolfo Fernandez Sainz, prisoner since the Black Spring* of 2003. Today, the table laid, waiting for the family, my son asks me increasingly uncomfortable questions about when Adolfo will come back. Meanwhile Julita, his wife, travels hundreds of kilometers to visit him every three months.
It is no longer the end of the year, but Easter has arrived and behind my door there is a thin palm frond announcing a “revival.” I hope that soon there will be no incomplete tables on this island. Nobody deserves the accurate phrase thrown at me by my small Teo when he learned of the arrests:
“Then, you are still free because you are sort of cowards.”
Translator’s note:
Black Spring = In March 2003, coinciding with the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Cuba arrested about 75-90 people including about 25-35 journalists (reports vary). The majority of these people remain in prison.