Am 18. März vor fünf Jahren griff Castros Regierung hart gegen das Varela-Projekt und andere Bürgerinitiativen durch, anstatt das Risiko einzugehen, dass sich der Funke der Demokratiereform in Kuba so verbreiten würde wie im ehemaligen Ostblock. Unter den 75 festgenommenen politischen Häftlingen befanden sich Regimekritiker, unabhängige Journalisten, führende Persönlichkeiten der Zivilgesellschaft und Bibliothekare, die es gewagt hatten, offen die Wahrheit darüber auszusprechen, wie das Leben in Kuba aussieht.
On March 18th five years ago, Castro’s government cracked down on the Varela Project and other civil society initiatives rather than risk allowing a spark of democratic reform to spread across Cuba as it had in the former Soviet bloc. The seventy five prisoners of conscience locked up were dissidents, independent journalists, leaders from civil society, and librarians, who had dared to speak the truth openly about what life is like in Cuba. Even though four prisoners have recently been released, fifty five of the seventy five remain incarcerated in deplorable conditions. In general, the only reason that any of these prisoners were freed was because of how seriously their health had deteriorated.