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.
Il y a cinq ans, le 18 mars, le gouvernement de Castro réprimait le Projet Varela, ainsi que d'autres initiatives issues de la société civile, plutôt que prendre le risque de voir une étincelle de réforme démocratique se répandre à Cuba, à l'image de ce qui s'est passé dans l'ex-bloc soviétique. Les 75 prisonniers d'opinion jetés alors en prison étaient des dissidents, des journalistes indépendants, des dirigeants au sein de la société civile et des bibliothécaires qui ont osé dire ouvertement la vérité sur la vie à Cuba.