“Well, look, there are several reasons why I did not leave. First, because I always had the firm conviction to not leave Cuba. It was one of the most difficult moments in the prison, but I always kept this position of not leaving, of not obeying the discipline that they imposed on me as a political prisoner, as if I were a common vulgar [prisoner]. That has cost me a lot, having that position, which breaks relations, of course. And since always, Reflection [Cuban Reflection Movement, Movimiento Cubano Reflexión, editorial note], or the founders of Reflection, a small group, the most representative nucleus of people, have always decided not to leave and have been consistent in that. Because we really consider that the national scenario of the struggle lays inside of Cuba, which unfortunately suffers a constant drain of actors of the civil society, many of them having plenty of reasons and justifications in form of imprisonment, surveillance and so on, as a base of having to leave the island. And this drainage has always prevented a strengthening of the movement for democracy within the country. And the other thing: I am a Cuban who has certain characteristics, and really, the country I most want to live in is Cuba, there are people who are more cosmopolitan than me, but I like my cultural atmosphere, the party, the folklore, the people, the weather... I feel very good walking on the streets of Cuba, and being a Cuban who is related to the people and who lives the Cubanity day by day.”
“There were two instruments that the regime used to imprison us. One was the Penal Code, in concrete article 91, and another was the Law of 88. The Penal Code, article 91, is up to 20 years of deprivation of liberty, or death penalty. In other words, they threw me twenty years of imprisonment. I was there very close to something else. It would have been scandalous to have us shot. In fact, even the imprisonment had a political cost.”
“So, as I was born with that vocation to participate in the public life of the country, to participate in politics, to seek information, to read history, to read philosophy... So, there was left just one path, which was the institution, the only one to which I could aspire and from where I could participate. And although I never proposed to myself to be a militant of the Union of Young Communists, when I was studying, sorry, when working in the factory, being about 20 years, or 21 years old, at a municipality far from my home, they proposed me for the award of the Best Communist, and, well, I accepted, I got into that dynamic of the Union of Young Communists, then I went to the Communist Party. And what happened next: unlike other people, I was a student of history, of politics and I do not know what else, and they always saw at me a great potential from the ideological point of view, with the ability to transmit ideas, as I studied unlike other people, who had no motivation for that.”
“I told you that, at the beginning, we, well... there were informal gatherings to read and discuss anything, where you could feel a great intellectual motivation from part of some of the first members of the movement of reflection. And then it seemed to us that this reflection had a punch because, in addition, we considered at that time and still we consider it equally, that a great reflection of the national problem can really start energize a citizen movement that creates a dynamic of change, and with it comes also a transition towards democracy. So that reflection is very important as an element that introduces a civic energy to the people to be able to move towards democracy. And then, the requirements initially were just few, because it was really enough for you to profess a sympathy in some measure, but then of course, we created a code of ethics, some requirements, the movement was evolving... There was also a difference of the movement before I got into the prison and after being released, even though the movement was always mine, but it experiences a kind of turning point from my part because I came out of the prison with other ideas, that we needed to appropriate a philosophy and a methodology of struggle of proven effectiveness, and to use the philosophy and methodology of non-violent struggle. Before that, of course, we did every day marches and so on, but our strength was rather to have a library, lend books, teach courses, to give social, cultural events, contests, etc., thus that kind of things, and eventually, sometimes, to participate in the street. But this was not our fort, and when I got out of prison, I put more emphasis on the civic struggle.”
Librado Ricardo Linares García was born in Cuba on June 9, 1960. Although his father had problems with the Castro’s regime, Librado in his youth was attracted by the ideas of socialism. However, due to his reform proposals, which Librado brought to the militant part of the Communist Party, he was excluded. Together with his father, he began to listen to Radio Martí in 1985, and began to create his opposition ideas. He founded several opposition movements, including the Democratic Front and Cuban Reflection Movement, of which he is currently president. In the Black Spring of 2003 he was one of the 75 accused opponents and was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment. In 2011 he was released from prison, however, he did not go abroad as many others from the Group of 75, but stayed on the island, since he believes that there lies the main stage of the struggle is in Cuba.
