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Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Notes from Captivity XVIII / Pablo Pacheco

Notes from Captivity XVIII / Pablo Pacheco
Pablo Pacheco, Translator: Raul G.

Violation of Correspondence II

by Pablo Pacheco Avila

It was a war of nerves between the guards and us on that morning. They
passed in front of our cells but they did not ask us our reasons for our
abstinence from food.

At lunchtime, we once again refused food, and to be completely honest,
if our decision were otherwise we would have devoured it all. On that
day, the cooks and the logistics functionaries of 'Aguica' were bent on
doing the best job. They served us black bean stew, white rice, fried
chicken, sweet potato, a piece of bread, and even dessert. It was the
most dignified plate of food seen by human eyes and with much more
quantity than they had served us during those first 6 months of captivity.

I cannot deny that my mouth watered, but I rapidly understood that it
was all a mechanism on behalf of the guards to try and crack our
psychological state. Luckily, the common prisoners also noticed the
manipulation and only the common prisoner who had not joined the strike
accepted the food. After the plates remained outside our cells for
three hours they were taken away intact.

At 4:30 in the afternoon they served us dinner, which looked just as
appetizing as the lunch, but temptation could not surpass our desire to
demand respect for our rights.

Two hours later, the Unit Chief- Ricardo- and another official showed up
to "The Polish Cell" and told Manuel Ubals to get dressed for a meeting
with the Direction Council and the chief of the Political Police,
Porfirio Penate. The soldiers began to take each one of us out while
promising the solutions to our demands, but they asked that as soon as
we arrived to our dungeons that we had to start eating.

In truth, our sole interest was that our petitions be respected. Among
our points we demanded that our right to mail be respected, and that we
be allowed to receive news, books, and adequate medical assistance, and
that the re-educator visit "The Polish Cell" at least three times a
week, for we only saw him there once in that time frame. That last
demand was decided on by the common prisoners. We political prisoners
cared very little if we saw the Unit Chief or not, we knew that it was
not in his hands to solve our problems and meet our demands, and we let
them know that during our meetings with the political police officials
and other soldiers of the Direction Council, and even in front of
Ricardo Martinez.

As my companions-in-strife were arriving to the cell they started to eat
their food. It was the agreement we had reached in the event that our
demands were met, and so they were.

After 8 pm they came for me. I was far from imagining the situation I
was about to get into. For some reason, they considered me to be the
leader of the protest and I was the last to be interviewed.

Translated by Raul G.

4 October 2011

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