Interviews with Pablo Pacheco Ávila

[The Black Spring] was something that touched us all. It was a before and after for Cuba´s peaceful opposition. I think it could have happened to any of us who confronted the regime at that time, but they decided who [to arrest] province by province.

I think it was a warning to the free world that Fidel Castro did what he wanted and when he wanted against all who opposed him. I think that it marked in us the desire to continue and not give up, despite the high penalties and the severe conditions that were imposed on us. Fortunately, we continued to speak from within the prison system. I feel very proud to have been a part of the Black Spring, despite everything we endured.

Raul Castro’s repression is the same, but with subtler and more sophisticated means. But I also believe that some cracks have opened, like some opposition activists being able to leave Cuba and return.

[In 2013, the Cuban government relaxed certain travel restrictions that barred most of its citizens from leaving the country.] That did not exist before. We can even have people who could represent the democratic future of Cuba study outside of Cuba.

You could not dream of that when we were imprisoned. But I also think the Black Spring helped, in that the world showed us more support. That is something the regime knows. They are not afraid to imprison anyone. What they want is to maintain control in Cuba.

They know that outside of Cuba they have lost all the credibility they had, apart from certain sections of the left who still think that what governs Cuba is the left and do not recognize that what governs is a dictatorship. I think the Black Spring also served to offer a type of protection to journalists and opposition members. A type of protection. But it is not complete protection because the [regime] is not afraid to arrest anyone.

Pablo Pacheco was born in the city of Puerto Padre in Cuba’s Las Tunas province.

He first became involved with the opposition in 1998 when he joined the Cuban Human Rights Foundation, an organization that monitors and denounces human rights violations and supports Cuban political prisoners. He became the foundation’s secretary.

In 1999, Pablo started a career as an independent journalist. He worked for several independent news agencies such as the College of Independent Journalists of Camaguey, the Avila Independent Journalists Cooperative, and the web-based Cubanet, an online compendium of independent news stories offering alternative perspectives from those of government-controlled media.

On March 19, 2003, Pablo was arrested during a massive government crackdown on activists known as the Black Spring. He was one of 75 nonviolent dissidents, human rights activists, and independent librarians arrested by security forces. In a summary judicial proceeding, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

During his incarceration, Pablo helped to establish a blog called “Voices Behind Bars” with dissident bloggers Iván García, Yoani Sánchez and Claudia Cadelo. The platform featured testimonials from political prisoners describing conditions and abuse inside Cuban jails. Their stories were recorded over the phone during the prisoners’ limited telephone privileges. In the event that guards cut off the phone lines, relatives would smuggle written testimonials out of the prison for inclusion in the blog. In 2009, “Voices Behind Bars” was recognized as the best of 187 Cuban opposition blogs in the Una Isla Virtual (A Virtual Island) competition.

After 7 years, Pablo was freed when the Catholic Church and the Spanish government negotiated the release of the 75 Black Spring prisoners. Pablo went into exile and currently lives in Miami, Florida, with his wife and son. He continues to share his experiences from his time in prison and remains active in Cuba’s freedom movement.