Gerardo Hernández Nordelo
A day in the life of a political prisoner
By Alicia Jrapko
This article describing the prison life of one of the
five Cuban political prisoners held in the United States for
monitoring the terrorist activities of right-wing Cubans in
Miami also appeared in Spanish in the Cuban newspaper
Granma.
The living conditions of five Cuban political prisoners held
in U.S. prisons is one of the greatest preoccupations of
millions of Cuban people.
The five were accused of espionage, among other things. They
received long sentences--from 15 years to double life terms.
Since they were sentenced last December, the five have been
scattered across the United States in different federal
prisons.The U.S. government obviously separated them in an
attempt to break the strength and morale they had shown
throughout their trial and sentencing.
Conditions in the federal prison system vary from one
facility to another. Their severity depends on several factors,
including the political climate of the state and the level of
security of a prisoner's unit.
Gerardo Hernández Nordelo faces the most severe
sentence: two life terms plus 80 months. He is in Lompoc
federal prison in California.
Lompoc is called the "New Rock" because it replaced the
infamous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay. Prisoners deemed
to have had some type of "disciplinary" problem in other
prisons are often sent to Lompoc. If after 18 months their
behavior improves, they are assigned to federal prisons that
are supposedly less severe.
Like all the other prisoners at Lompoc, Gerardo starts his
day at 5:50 a.m. That is when the guards automatically open the
bars of all the cells and the prisoners can go to the common
areas of their unit. Between 6:15 and 6:30 they are called for
breakfast. After breakfast the prisoners return to their cells
or to the common areas, and around 7:45 are called to go to
work.
The U.S. prison-industrial complex, which continues to grow,
is now the second-biggest employer in the country. It is
responsible for eliminating thousands of jobs on the outside,
many of which had been covered by union contracts. Exorbitant
profits are generated from cheap prison labor.
Each prisoner makes 23 cents to $1.15 per hour; Gerardo
makes approximately 50 cents per hour.
In all federal prisons, all prisoners have to work. The
corporation that operates all prison production is called
"Unicor." In Lompoc there are three factories: one cable joiner
factory, a print shop and a sign factory. The three factories
are located inside the prison walls. They are considered a
desirable place to work because the work tends to be less
menial than in other jobs.
Although the wage is very low, it is the only source of
income for many prisoners. If they cannot get work in the
factories, they are assigned to other jobs, such as general
cleaning, cooking or other services.
Gerardo first worked in the cable factory. After a month he
was transferred to a job in the sign factory, which he feels is
a little bit more interesting. In the sign factory prisoners
make everything from small stickers to big signs for the
freeways.
The factory's clients are all government agencies and
institutions. For example, the Forest Service orders posters
with messages such as forest fire prevention. Any sign found in
a national park was most likely produced in Lompoc.
Brought skills from Cuba
As in any other work place, the bosses in prison quickly
identify the workers who are more skilled to be assigned to
specific jobs. Gerardo was assigned to a job of high
responsibility, not because his bosses were concerned with his
well-being or because they were interested in his progress, but
because they found out that he brought with him a high level of
education and knowledge that could be utilized to further
maximize profits.
This is not surprising because Gerardo, like the four other
Cuban political prisoners, grew up in Cuba, where everyone has
access to free education from kindergarten to graduate school.
The United Nations has named Cuba's educational system the best
in Latin America.
Gerardo mostly works on a computer, where the entire sign
database for the factory is stored. His responsibilities
include inputting orders, keeping records, redirecting orders,
passing them to production, closing orders that are sent to
clients, making sales and order status reports, and responding
to any requests for data.
At 4 p.m. he returns to his cell. The prison guards close
all the cells and count the prisoners. Between 4:30 and 4:45
they open the cells and at 5:00 there are
"activities"--prisoners can go into the yard, to the library or
to church after passing through a series of metal
detectors.
Around 5:30 they are called to the dining area. After supper
the prisoners can either go back to their cells or go directly
to the yard. All movement of prisoners takes place under close
surveillance at designated times, after being announced on loud
speakers. At 10 p.m. all the cells are closed until the next
morning.
The weekends provide some break from the routine. It is then
that Gerardo tries to get some time in the yard for exercise
and some sun. Sunday also means the possibility of a phone call
to Cuba.
In the last two months, Gerardo has been by himself in his
cell because his "celly"--cell mate--was sent to another
prison. Lompoc is a very old prison and the cells are small, so
this is a great advantage. It not only provides him a little
more comfort, but he can also decorate the cell to his own
taste.
He has two bulletin boards in his cell that he was able to
acquire with a lot of perseverance. The boards, he explains,
have become a collage of photos of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara,
Nelson Mandela, images of the Cuban people attending open
tribunals, Cuban marches calling for the freedom of the five,
and pictures sent to him by Cuban students, as well as photos
of demonstrations by solidarity groups around the world.
Gerardo is well known in Cuba as a cartoonist. His work will
soon appear in a new book, so besides his task of keeping up
his correspondence, he spends as much time as he can creating
new caricatures that reflect his political point of view and
his undaunted sense of humor. Gerardo's cell lacks a chair or a
little table to write on, and although he has become used to
writing and drawing while standing up against the closet, his
greatest complaint is not this obstacle but the lack of time he
has to write and draw.
Mail from all over the world
Because the case of the five Cubans is gaining international
recognition, Gerardo is receiving between five to 10 letters
per day from all over the world. He expresses his gratitude for
all the support and good wishes he receives daily, and at the
same time wants to apologize for not having enough time to
respond in a timely way to all the letters.
The solidarity letters are a great source of encouragement.
All this mail has given him a sense of pride, knowing that so
many peace- and justice-loving people support the case of the
Cuban Five and their defense of Cuba against the terrorism that
emanates out of Miami.
There are 20 Cubans in Lompoc prison, six of them in
Gerardo's unit. All the others are people who left Cuba in the
1980s and are known as Marielitos. Although many of them have
completed their sentences, they are being retained by the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, victimized by the U.S.
blockade of Cuba.
This particularly cruel aspect of the 43-year-old blockade
of Cuba comes because there is no extradition treaty between
the two countries, so many Cubans in prison are in legal limbo.
This situation plays itself out in many state and federal
prisons throughout the United States, where thousands of Cubans
are imprisoned for an undefined time. Many of them have been in
prison for 10, 15 and even 20 years without charges.
Many of the Cubans in prison with Gerardo have no contact
with their families. In a show of solidarity, he has helped
some of them find their families in Cuba. Due to this effort he
has become known in the prison and even some prisoners from the
United States have asked him to help them find their lost
relatives.
Many Cubans in the prison have told him that leaving Cuba
was the biggest mistake they ever made. Many consider
themselves revolutionaries and have asked to have a photo taken
with him to send to their families in Cuba. Others share
letters they have received from their Cuban families, who have
asked them to look out for him and show him solidarity.
Gerardo's case, like that of the other Cuban patriots, is
well known by other prisoners, too. Some have read the court
closing statements of the five and asked Gerardo for a book
with his signature. Several African American prisoners ask him
regularly to let them read materials he receives in English.
Many have followed closely the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal; others
have expressed to Gerardo their admiration for Cuban President
Fidel Castro.
It is clear that Gerardo has been able to remain strong
behind the walls of Lompoc. Sometimes late at night, on a small
radio, he has been able to tune in Radio Havana Cuba in
English. One night he was even able to pick up the Cuban
National Anthem.
Gerardo and his four comrades--Ramón, René,
Fernando, and Antonio--are the only political prisoners in the
United States who have the unconditional support of their
entire country. The five inside U.S. prisons and the great
majority of the Cuban people in Cuba fight the same battle--the
battle for self-determination and the right to defend the
sovereignty of Cuba against all types of aggression.
Sooner or later the five will return to their homeland.
For more information about the five Cuban political
prisoners and their prison addresses, visit the web site:
www.freethefive.org.
Jrapko is a member of the National Committee to Free the
Five and is from San Francisco.
Reprinted from the Sept. 12, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
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