Armando Valladares

Armando Valladares Pérez (* May 30, 1937 in Pinar del Río ) is a Cuban writer and a former United States Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Commission. In Cuba, he was for 22 years ( 1960-1982 ) imprisoned as enemies of the revolution.

Life

Armando Valladares Pérez studied until 1956 at the National Art Academy in Havana and began immediately after his work in the public service in Cuba. Among other things, he worked in the Ministry of Transport. After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, he was subjected to political scrutiny, but had no consequences first. On December 27, 1960 Valladares was arrested and sentenced to a prison sentence of 30 years in prison. For reasons of conviction there are several versions. He spent his detention in various Cuban prisons and prison camps, some in solitary confinement, dark prison and under torture. After his refusal to participate in a measure for political rehabilitation, he were deprived of food for 46 days. As a result, he spent several years in a wheelchair. However, the Cuban authorities made secret video recordings of the prisoner, as he in his cell at night continuously stirred and kept fit his legs with squats. Valladares developed in the prison time for writers and poets and chose the years in a wheelchair for the title of his first book of poetry: Desde mi Silla de Ruedas ( German: From my wheelchair ). Amnesty International recognized Valladares as a prisoner of conscience. The Cuban government called Valladares publicly as former secret police of dictator Fulgencio Batista as well as malingerers.

After 22 years of imprisonment Valladares came in October 1982 released by international pressure - in particular the French President François Mitterrand had fought at Fidel Castro for him. The Cuban government, however, insisted that Valladares had to climb the stairs of the plane to Paris under its own power to expose him as malingerers. Shortly after his arrival in Europe, he emigrated to the United States. In 1985, his autobiography of his sentence. President Ronald Reagan appointed him from 1988 to 1990 as the U.S. representative to the UN Human Rights Commission.

Valladares part of the international advisory board of the foundation for a memorial for the victims of communism ( Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation ), which was founded in 1993 by a confirmed U.S. President Bill Clinton decision of the U.S. Congress with the aim of future generations about the to inform history " of Communist tyranny."

Valladares is married and was a close friend of Pedro Luis Boitel.

Awards

Writings

  • Con su propia sangre
  • Desde mi Silla de Ruedas, 1976
  • El Corazón Que Con 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
Dictatorship Presidential Citizens Medal Ischia International Journalism Award PEN International Integrated Authority File
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