When Cuba’s revolution leader Fidel Castro was sentenced to 15 years after his failed 1953 attack at the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, he was sent to a prison in the Isle of Youth, Isla de la Juventud. ‘Presidio Modelo’ was a model prison built under former President (or dictator) Machado in the late 1920ies. The main buildings, five circular blocks, had a panopticon design, with the cells constructed in tiers around a central observation tower. Each house had a capacity of up to 2,500 prisoners. That was the theory. But when Castro was sent there, each block was aid to have been packed with up to 6,000 prisoners under disastrous hygienic conditions. Fidel Castro was released some 2 years later as dictator Batista granted an amnesty to Castro and his fellow rebels. I went there in 2001 as I was doing a story about German Heinz Stücke, who is probably the most famous around-the-world-biker ever. (I will do a blog about him later). The building was impressing, and I walked all the 5 floors of the main building, passing each of the cells (most of them without the bars). And to my surprise I discovered wall paintings, many of them depicting women, but also family pictures or even comic strips like. I was really amazed of the artistic finesse of some of the paintings and wonder if they were painted by the same person or if many of the inmates had an artistic talent. I guess I will never know the answer.
