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Arrested in 1960 for being philosophically and religiously opposed to communism, Armando Valladares was interned at Cuba's infamous Isla de Pinos Prison (from whose barred windows he watched the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion). His life in Castro's gulag was a hell of violence and disease, putrid food and squalid living conditions, forced labor and solitary confinement, and hazardous escape attempts. Valladares survived by prayer and poetry. His writing, smuggled out to Europe and the U.S., made him one of the world's most celebrated prisoners of conscience. As a result of pressure from international human rights organizations, the Castro regime finally released him in 1982. When Against All Hope first appeared, it was immediately compared to Darkness at Noon and other classic prison narratives about the resilience of the human spirit in the face of totalitarianism. Now, with a new prologue by the author, which tells of his life since prison and brings the story of Cuban dissidence up to the case of Elian Gonzalez, this story of strength and survival is more relevant than ever.

[Ronald Reagan] \"is a hero to me, I love him very much,\" Valladares said, clutching American and Cuban flags after hearing his son and Reagan speak. \"I had been persecuted too. If not for Mr. Reagan, they never would have let me out.\"

A Cosa Nostra godfather summons his bookkeeper. Because the bookkeeper is deaf, his bookkeeper's cousin comes, too, to act as an interpreter. The don says to the bookkeeper: \"There's $5 million missing, and I think you know where it is.\" The cousin interprets this, and the agitated bookkeeper signs his answer back, which the cousin interprets: \"He says he doesn't know anything about this! He says he'd never steal a penny from you, Godfather!\" The don reaches into a pocket and produces a gun, which he lays on the table. \"Tell him to tell me where the money is, or I will blow his brains out right now.\" The cousin signs this. The bookkeeper frantically signs back: \"It's in a suitcase in the attic of my summer house in Montauk.\" And the cousin says: \"He says you don't got the balls.\" The boys were involved in a \"tradition\" of celebrating a victory and the injury that occurred to one of the team members was accidental. The boy who caused the injury immediately stopped the \"teasing.\" Furthermore, for The New Mexican to compare this incident to the hazing that occurred in Las Vegas, N.M., and a town in Tennessee is absolutely unfair and a complete travesty on reporting the news (\"Coach's backers full of excuses in hazing case,\" Ringside Seat, March 14).

After suffering 22 years of oppression in Cuban jails, Armando Valladares said Sunday that he feels compelled to speak out against what he sees as another human rights atrocity: abortion. Valladares, who was imprisoned by Fidel Castro for criticizing Marxism and later became the U.S. representative to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, made his comments on the 22nd anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

\"Con la escueta negativa que dio [Gaviria Trujillo] a la visita que denuncia [Armando Valladares] ocurrió igual que cuando el 2 de agosto de 1996 el entonces ministro de defensa de Colombia, Juan Carlos Esguerra, informó -aunque después se vio precisado a negarlo- que el ex presidente de su país C. Gaviria se había trasladado a La Habana para negociar directamente con Fidel Castro la liberación de su hermano Juan Carlos. En esa oportunidad su vocero declaró que era absolutamente falso\". La negativa en estos casos es lógica e inevitable, sobre todo por sus implicaciones. En aquella ocasión porque Gaviria era secretario general de la OEA y lo menos que se dijo entonces fue que había comprometido la soberanía de Colombia y la independencia de su cargo en la OEA. El congresista cubano americano Lincoln Díaz-Balart lo acusó de prevaricación y de \"comprometer totalmente\" las funciones de su cargo, viéndose obligado a comparecer ante el Congreso de E.U. a explicar los hechos\".

Dice textualmente [Armando Valladares] que \"no es difícil suponer una relación y conspiración entre [Fidel Castro] y Hugo Chávez y César [Gaviria] cuyo objetivo es sacar a [Alvaro Uribe V] del poder. Contrario a las coqueterías de Gaviria con las guerrillas y el narcotráfico, Uribe el presidente con el más alto índice de popularidad en toda la historia se ha destacado por su lucha sin cuartel contra esas dos desgracias que han llenado de sangre y luto miles de hogares colombianos. Gaviria lleva instrucciones de Castro y Chávez de enfrentarse a Uribe a como sea\". Recuerda este exiliado cubano que en una entrevista con el periodista mexicano Jorge Ramos, Gaviria se negó a admitir que Castro era un dictador. Fue también el actor más destacado en la promoción de los viajes de Chávez al Brasil y de '[Lula]' a Venezuela. Pero, por fortuna, es evidente que 'Lula' ha virado políticamente. Se aburrió con la teoría castrista y comprendió que esto ni era popular domésticamente, ni le convenía en sus relaciones con los Estados Unidos y la gran mayoría de las naciones de Europa. Esto fue una razón adicional para echar a [Dirceu].

[Armando Valladares], who spent time in Cuban jails before going to the United States, said the new U.S. draft does not condemn Cuba, even though the Communist government \"is one of the world's worst offenders\" on human rights.

[Armando Valladares] spent 22 years as a political prisoner under Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Soon after his release, he was made a U.S. citizen and now heads the U.S. delegation to the commission's six- week review of rights around the world.

[Armando Valladares], a writer, was named to the post by former President Reagan in 1987. The former Cuban political prisoner became a hero to many Cuban exiles by denouncing human rights abuses in that country.