Former Cuban prisoner visited Buenos Aires

From the 18th to the 22nd of March, the independent writer and journalist Jorge Olivera Castillo, condemned in 2003 in Cuba to an 18-year prison sentence during the repressive wave known as Cuba’s “Black Spring”. He was released in 2005 thanks to an extra-penal license on grounds of health, and he is now with a scholarship for writers at risk, in Harvard.

During his stay in Buenos Aires, the author of the book "Antes que amanezca y otros relatos" gave talks at three universities, took part as speaker in a conference on the human rights situation in Cuba, conducted interviews with the media and meetings with intellectuals and politicians.

During Jorge Olivera’s meeting, with intellectuals and members of CADAL, participated the historian María Sáenz Quesada, one of the 5 signatories of the “Cuban Civil Movement’s supporting statement” (2003).

Olivera was welcomed at the Legislature of Buenos Aires by congressmen Eduardo Santamarina, Omar Abboud and Francisco Quintana.

The Cuban writer gave a talk for communication students of the Universidad Católica Argentina.

CADAL’s guest also talked with Universidad de Belgrano’s communication students.

On Tuesday, March 20, together with the Argentinian jurist Daniel Sabsay, Olivera took part as an speaker in the conference “The human rights situation in Cuba, 14 years after the Black Spring”.

Finally, Jorge Olivera disserted in the presence of one hundred communication students at Universidad Austral.

Jorge Olivera Castillo (Havana, 1961), poet, storyteller, television editor and journalist. He published poetry books: Conesiones antes del Crepúsculo (Miami, United States, 2005); En Cuerpo y Alma (Prague, Czech Republic, 2008); Cenizas Alumbradas (Warsaw, Poland, 2010); Sobrevivir en la boca del Lobo (Madrid, Spain, 2012); Tatuajes en la Memoria (Prague, Czech Republic, 2013); Quemar las naves (Miami, United states, 2015). He also published story books: Huésped del Infierno (Cádiz, Spain, 2007) and Antes que Amanezca y otros relatos (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2010). A great part of his publications has been translated into Czech, Polish, English, Italian and French.

Olivera worked as television editor at the Cuban official TV from 1983 to 1993. He has been a dissent since more than two decades now. He spent in jail for 22 months for exercising his right to free speech, outside state institutions. He was one of the 75 imprisoned dissent during the Black Spring of 2003. He was sentenced to 18 years of deprivation of liberty, while he was director of the independent press agency Habana Press. He is currently under an extra-penal license on grounds of health, technically keeping him prisoner.

He published articles and comments in the Latin American, European and American press. In 2009, he was granted a scholarship to be part of the Writers at Risk program, at the University of Harvard. On Monday 22 February 2016, the Cuban government exceptionally allowed him, for once, to leave the island; and since 13 August 2016, he has been in Harvard. He is honorary member of the English, Sweden and American PENs. He is the president and one of the founders of the Club of the Independent writers of Cuba, created on May 2007.