“And then they took us to prison. And there, they asked for us a sentence of two and a half years. And then came the agreement between the United States and Cuba, as Obama wanted, of the political prisoners. I was by then seven months in prison, where I was beaten several times, because I was demonstrating and I was very disobedient in prison. I remember that I was the most protesting person in that prison. The person to whom the guards had more hatred and resentment. I was often closed up in the cell, because I manifested myself. When the prisoners had the right to the telephone, and they did not give it to them, I manifested, and the prisoners were even telling me: 'Mario, do it for us', so I manifested. Every five, six, seven days, I was in trouble in prison.”
“There is something that makes me overcome all this, and I'm going to tell you what is it. I believe that in my soul there is something where I know that my struggle is not a struggle because I need it, but because all the people of Cuba need it. It is a fight against a system, against a regime, which abuses its the citizens. And I think it's a fair fight. I think... I don’t think, but actually I’m sure I'm not doing something because I want to do it. I'm doing something because I want to do it, but at the same time, everyone, the entire Cuban nation, needs it. No, no, to give up? I’m not going to not give up.”
“I arrived at Holguín provincial prison, it was at night. There the boss of the prison received me and told me that I was not a political prisoner. I said: 'I am a military political prisoner.' She told me: 'Shut up!' No, I'm not going to shut up. I am telling you that I am a political prisoner. I came here because of saying the truth. I'm here because of saying the truth in prison. I was released upon the agreement on political prisoners between the United States and Cuba. I was released at one o'clock in the afternoon. Me and 52 brothers of mine who are in this fight. I am a political prisoner. And I'm here not for a common cause, I'm here for saying the truth in prison.”
“I created a human rights movement inside the prison, where I called for a hunger strike. In that prison there were ten political prisoners who came a few months before that. But I met others in prison, and I made a human rights movement with those ten political prisoners plus thirty common prisoners. I made a human rights movement inside the prison which even got a name. It was a movement, a branch of my movement, of the New Republic. But a very large branch of forty people. Ten political prisoners, or eight political prisoners, and thirty common prisoners. I had friends inside the prisons who supported me, and supported my cause. And I brought information to those friends of mine inside the prison. I told them: give to the brother that piece of paper, so like this, I communicated with everyone, among all my friends. I then gave papers to everyone that we were going to go on a hunger strike for 48 hours. It was before the US President Barack Obama arrived. And we were going to the strike for 48 hours, not because of the arrival of the American president, but because of the freedom of all political prisoners.”
Mario Alberto Hernández Leyva was born on November 13, 1968 in Banes, Cuba. At the age of 26 he moved to Havana. At the age 42, he joined a human rights movement. In May 2014, he was held without trial in the Valle Grande prison, and he left the prison on January 8, 2015, as part of the 53 political prisoners released on the basis of the agreement between the US and Cuba. A few months later he returned to prison, now sentenced to three years, for organizing public demonstrations. In jails he experienced numerous beatings and mistreatment, of which he reports publicly. Nowadays he is vice president of the Opposition Movement for a New Republic (MONR) and deputy of its president José Díaz Silva. He resides in Havana.
