Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books
Review: Beautiful in its stark, dark reprisal of life in a Cuban Gulag. Through all the grotesque trials and tribulation, Armando finds strength in the truth of his principles and in his God. He is a hero of mine, for I'm not sure I could withstand what he did. The beatings, the psych and chemical torture, the (...)pits, the knowledge that the family suffers because of your absence, the hunger strikes, for twenty years. Hundreds of anecdotes, mostly depressing (...), line the pages. This should be mandatory reading for the Danny Glovers of the world, who sickingly worship the ghoul Castro. Armando Valladares makes the world a better place, and we should all profit from learning about his life. It is a book that will stick w/ you, in its message of overcoming the darkest of the dark w/ the thin light of Heaven and freedom.

Rating:
Summary: PROOF OF HOPE....
Review: I HAVE NEVER REALLY UNDERSTOOD THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS BOOK, UNTIL MY FATHER READ ME A FEW VERSES THAT HE WAS MENTIONED IN IT THE OTHER DAY. THIS BOOK REPRESENTS THE STORY OF MANY CUBANS THAT GAVE THEIR LIFE TO FIGHT AGAINST THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT. MY FATHER WAS A CELL MATE OF VALLADARES, AND WAS ONE OF THE MEN THAT WERE LEADING STRIKES AGAINST THE PRISON SYSTEM. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT PEOPLE REALIZE THE STORY BEHIND THIS BOOK, AND THAT THE REASON MOST WERE PRISONERS FOR OVER 14 YEARS ,LIKE MY FATHER, WAS TO FREE CUBA OF THE COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT THAT IS STILL ACTIVE. FOR HIS FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, FOR HIS COUNTRY. I HAVE YET TO READ THIS BOOK, BUT BY MEETING VALLADARES, AND ALL OF MY FATHER'S FRIEND THAT WERE IN PRISON WITH HIM, I KNOW THIS IS A STORY OF HOW YOUNG MEN GAVE THEIR LIFE TO TRY TO BECOME HEROES TO THEIR COUNTRY.
ROBERT ALVAREZ

Rating:
Summary: A Real Eyeopener
Review: I tend to prefer a good nonfiction survival story, and this was one of the best I have ever read. Most people in survival situations are there without choice, Armando Validares along with a segment of Cuban society were imprisoned because they valued their freedom of thought in a Cuban society intolerant of dissent. These political prisoners have only to accept the garb of a common prisoner or attend political re-education classes to receive better treatment. The author and fellow prisoners endured inhumane tortures because of their belief and values. The prisoners have maintained their courage, defiance, and solidarity for years while undergoing all that Castro's regime can bear upon them to make them yield. It is truly heroic. During many of the beatings the prisoners would still manage to yell an anti-communist slogan or quote a Bible verse to the enraged guards. This book demonstrates the willpower a human being has to value an idea or goal above life itself. The ordeal, while completed by the author is continuing for many of his comrades and fellow citizens. Other interesting aspects of this book show a wider view of the struggle such as, the inner workings of the Castro regime, and highlights the deception of his political statements denying the existence of political prisoners. It also shows the force of world opinion and organizations such as the UN and Amnesty International upon Totalitarian governments. All in all, the main effect of this book was a deep admiration for these prisoners holding to a principle while enduring all that a modern totalitarian government can bring to bear upon them. These men routinely have the basics of life withheld, clothing, warmth, food, water, and sleep, but still they endure and refuse to buckle under. They remain true to their conscience. Common criminals and civilians employed in the prisons routinely are touched enough to help these political prisoners because their condition is so pathetic. The Castro Regime's answer to this is to have these prisoners isolated and tended to by militant party members only. Still threads of news managed to reach the outside world to inform it of the existence of these political prisoners and their actions. The fact that this has gone on and is continuing close to American shores really hits home. This book is now my standard for judging all other survival books. I give it the highest rating. Very well done. It is a story that had to be told. World notoriety made it very unlikely that the author could quietly die in a Cuban prison and world appeals to release him finally made Castro relent. This is his story of twenty-two years in the Cuban penal system.

Rating:
Summary: And this is the Castro of the Elian Gonzalez saga?
Review: When I read this book I had to put it down at least seven different times; the barbaric cruelty of the jailers was that upsetting. For little more than a token show of distaste for Marxism, Valladares was imprisoned under the harshest conditions imaginable. The mind numbing sadism goes on chapter after chapter until you can't imagine how a man could put up with it. Valladares, thru sheer faith and belief that he'll survive, finds a way to survive the drawer cells, the white room, the extended solitary confinement in total darkness, the sleep deprivation, the horrible food, the immersion in a lake of human excrement, the brutal beatings and having to witness fellow prisoners maimed and killed.

His health, particularly his lung tissue, was permanently damaged. The description of his injury and its aftermath in the wake of his attempt to escape made me wince repeatedly. Having been on crutches 15 times myself I could feel his pain. God bless Amnesty International for helping to spring this guy.

When I read about the excoriation that Ron Radosh and David Horowitz endure from their former communist comrades I want to suggest that the complinants go live in Cuba and ply their demogoguery there. Then they can do time in Castro's jails and give us their opinion about his glorious revolution.

Read "Guerilla Prince" by Geyer as a compliment to this book; it's the story of Castro's life. Fidel, whatta guy. Valladares adds to the extensive record of what a horrifying sadist we have ruling an island prison 90 miles from our shores. All American communists-progressives-socialists should read this book, for perspective if nothing else.