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.
El 18 de marzo de hace cinco años, el gobierno de Castro desarticuló el Proyecto Varela y otras iniciativas de la sociedad civil en lugar de arriesgarse a permitir que una chispa de reforma democrática se esparciera por Cuba como había sucedido en el ex bloque soviético. Los setenta y cinco prisioneros de conciencia encerrados eran disidentes, periodistas independientes, líderes de la sociedad civil y bibliotecarios que se habían atrevido a decir la verdad abiertamente sobre cómo es la vida en Cuba.