1994: María Elena Cruz Varela

1994

María Elena Cruz Varela - Cuba

Imprisoned 

María Elena Cruz Varela (born 1953, Colón, Cuba) is an award-winning poet, novelist and political activist. She was imprisoned for 18 months between 1991 and 1993 and then held under house arrest before going into exile in 1994.

At the time of her arrest in November 1991, Cruz Varela was an active member of Criterio Alternativo, an independent political analysis group. In June that year, the group had published a manifesto entitled ‘Declaration of Cuban Intellectuals' demanding reforms, national debates and free elections. In March that year Cruz Varela was expelled from the National Union of Cuban Writers, which had awarded her the 1989 Julian de Casal prize.

In the month before her arrest, Cruz Varela and other members of Criterio Alternativo had reportedly been handing out pro-democracy leaflets in Havana and had met foreign diplomats, asking them to take human rights abuses into account when considering aid for Cuba. On 19 November 1991, a crowd believed to have been under instructions from the government arrived at her house, physically assaulted her, and rammed Criterio Alternativo leaflets down her throat.

Cruz Varela was held in her home for three days before being arrested and taken to Villa Marista prison where she was held incommunicado for a few days. On 27 November 1991, she was sentenced to two years in prison for ‘disrespect for the institutions of Cuba', ‘insulting the heroes of Cuba', and ‘illegal association'. It was reported that she was not allowed a lawyer of her choice and that a sentence was decided before a hearing took place. There was an unsuccessful appeal a few days later.

The poet was held in Combindado del Sur maximum security prison in Matanzas province. She was reportedly subjected to lengthy interrogation sessions during which a bright light was shone into her eyes, damaging her vision.

Cruz Varela was finally released in May 1993, six months before the end of her sentence, but was then kept under house arrest. In 1994, she was allowed to leave the country to receive a prize for her political work, and later moved to Puerto Rico. She now lives in Spain where she continues to write and teach.

Writing Sample:

And it was a lie. The coward's defenseless lie.

Not even a speckled truth,

the epitaph of an old prostitute.

It was also a lie, my lie of amianthus

against the mortal fire.

It was a lie, the squatting fear,

the broken porcelain,

the quality of the clay.

It was a lie, a pious fiction for the dying one

that we say sea

and the fish jumped at our voices.

We also said arc, intention, monotype

or just another argument.

They were all lies.

Dumb, saddened, ineffective, futile lies.

From Ballad of the Blood / Balada De La Sangre: The Poems of María Elena Cruz Varela / Los Poemas De María Elena Cruz Varela (Hardcover) trans. Deborah Digges and Mairym Cruz-Bernal (New York: Ecco Press, 1995) ISBN-10: 088001427X, ISBN-13: 978-0880014274

For more information click here:

María Elena Cruz Varela's blog (Spanish)

A Note on María Elena Cruz Varela. Interview with Cruz Varela on her years in prison, The American Poetry Review, 1995 (English).

Two Sisters and a Piano, 2003 production of the play based on Cruz Varela's life, including plot summary and reviews

Photograph by Arnold Méndez Cruz, taken 2008, courtesy of María Elena Cruz Varela's blog

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