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“Prisoners of the Cuban Spring” is an exhibition of photographs of wives and mothers of Cuban political prisoners arrested in March 2003. It was taken by Alexander Polo in April last year, in collaboration with People In Need Foundation and Center for a Free Cuba. The collection of photos is supplemented with testimonies of 23 women who are dealing with the arrest of their husbands, sons or brothers. This project shows determination as well as suffering of women who are exposed to day-to-day repression and victimization by civil servants, or even hatred of their neighbors.
Additionally to the exhibition:
In mid March 2003, while the world turned its attention to the start of the war in Iraq, Fidel Castro used the cover created by the war to arrest seventy-five human rights defenders, independent journalists, librarians and opposition members.
In April, the arrested activists were subjected to hasty and unfair trials and quickly sentenced to an average of twenty years in prison.
The families of these prisoners of conscience are also suffering the consequences of the government crackdown. Prisoner’s family members are often abused and threatened by the authorities, and in some cases members of local communities have been turned against the families. The family members are also serving a sentence, a price they are paying at home.
