Héctor Fernando Maseda Gutiérrez is a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n nuclear engineer and a journalist. The Fidel Castro regime arrested him during the 2003 "Black Spring" and sentenced him to 20 years in jail. He was released in February, 2011.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

named him a prisoner of conscience and called for his immediate release. In 2008, he won an International Press Freedom Award from the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journa ...

. The award is given for journalists who show courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment. He was a

nuclear engineer Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of breaking down atomic nuclei ( fission) or of combining atomic nuclei (fusion), or with the application of other sub-atomic processes based on the principles of n ...

before being sacked at the end of the 1980s for ideological errors. Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez was married to Laura Inés Pollán Toledo. Pollán Toledo was a founding member of the

Ladies in White Ladies in White ( es, italics=no, Damas de Blanco) is an opposition movement in Cuba founded in 2003 by wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents and those who have been made to disappear by the government. The women protest the impri ...

. She lost her job as a high school Spanish teacher in 2003. Laura Inés Pollán Toledo died on October 14, 2011. In prison, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez managed to write his memoirs, ''Enterrados Vivos'' (English: Buried Alive), which was smuggled out one page at time. His wife sent a copy to Fidel Castro. Upon his release in February, Meseda claimed that he was "released against his will," as he refused to leave jail unless he was exonerated or pardoned, along with the rest of the Black Spring prisoners.

References

External links

This is the testimony book in two parts Hector Maseda wrote while he was a prisoner: Maseda, Hector: Enterrados Vivos - Part 1: http://www.solidaridadconcuba.com/documentos/EnterradosVivos%20-%20HMaseda.pdf Maseda, Hector: Enterrados Vivos - Part 2: http://ebookbrowsee.net/gdoc.php?id=304808581&url=2ac324d3275756d585e72b44f96b2449 {{DEFAULTSORT:Maseda Gutierrez, Hector Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Cuba Cuban dissidents Cuban engineers Cuban human rights activists Cuban journalists Male journalists Cuban scientists Living people Nonviolence advocates Nuclear engineers Opposition to Fidel Castro Cuban prisoners and detainees Year of birth missing (living people)