ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE PLANTADOS LEST WE FORGET. PLANTADO TM
As early as 1964, the Castro regime in Cuba implemented at the Isla de Pinos prison an abusive and Draconian forced labor policy popularly known as the “Plan de Trabajo Forzado, Camilo Cienfuegos” (FORCED LABOR PLAN TITLED CAMILO CIENFUEGOS). All prisoners, driven by the sharp bayonets of the guards, were compelled to engage in this forced labor. Refusing to do so would result in a shower of savage beatings sometimes culminating in the offending inmate being shot.
At this time there were between 7,000 to 10,000 political prisoners in Cuba. Three inmates among this multitude dared to challenge Castro’s forced labor policy. The first individual was a journalist, Alfredo Izaguirre Riva, followed by the lawyer Emilio Adolfo Rivero Caro, and finally joined by Onirio Nerin Sanchez Infante, ex-captain of Castro’s Rebel Army and leader of the guerrillas who fought in the mountains of El Escambray.
It was these three idealists who gave birth to the concept of the term “Plantado”.
The word itself defines the actions and moral compass of these brave men. Like immovable oaks, they planted themselves with deep moral roots in defiance to what they viewed to be a corrupt and tyrannical system that had stolen their dream of a free and democratic Cuba.
These men would not budge from their stand and steadfastly refused the forced labor with predictable consequences. Beatings and humiliations rained down upon them but even in their darkest hours they refused to give in.
As Armando Valladares, author of the award winning book “Against All Hope”, former ambassador to the United Nations, and himself a prisoner of Castro for 22 years, stated, for more than a year these three men were singled out for brutal treatment and kept in isolation from the general prison population. On occasions, they would be taken out to the “dark waters”, a cesspool where all the human feces and decomposing garbage from the prison would be dumped. There, in that floating hell of refuse, they would be forced to wade among the drifting scum. The guards, using long poles and safely standing on the edge, pushed the unfortunate men deeper into the morass delighting in what to them was a game, a source of macabre amusement. Forced to return to their tiny darkened cells, the filth drying on their bodies, they remained in their isolation with nothing to comfort them but their burning love of country and deep conviction of their righteousness.
Were these three men the only ones to defy the systemic abuse of Castro’s prisons? No, they were not alone. There were many brave men and women who in their own way and their own capacity defied daily the implacable demands of the forced labor plan. In some cases this would be as simple as slowing down the work, in some others it would be a hunger strike, sometimes resulting in the death of the inmate. All defying prisoners were subject to ritual beatings and violence. On many occasions, as the long lines of prisoners were marched out to perform their forced labor, the men who slowed the pace were jabbed and prodded with bayonets. They were struck with clubs, iron rods, machetes, kicked, punched, anything that was handy and would inflict pain, but they stood their ground and refused to move until the beating ceased. Sadly, some of them paid the ultimate price, their lives lost to bullets or bayonets, but they are not forgotten.
The example set by the original three Plantados resonated throughout the prison system. It was like a flickering beacon of hope in the darkness of a wilderness. Starting in 1964 until the prison was shut down in 1967, 21 other inmates, knowing full well the repercussions that were sure to befall them, joined the original trio of Alfredo Izaguirre Riva, Emilio Caro, and Nerin Sanchez. As the inmates held at the Isla de Pino prison were dispersed to other facilities on the island, the word spread. Many who had slowed down the forced labor or had somehow defied the prison system found in the depths of their conscience that the time had come to boldly confront the tyranny of the regime. Thousands of prisoners joined the Plantados swelling the ranks of the resistance. Not only did they refuse the forced labor, they also refused to wear the blue prison uniforms which identified them as common criminals. Like a badge of honor they would wear the beige uniforms of political prisoners or wear nothing at all.
“The Plantados never gave in and they never compromised their values and beliefs. Seldom in our recent history has a group of men and women displayed such valor and stoicism when faced by an implacable and savage tyrant.
There is much more to their story, but that is reserved for another time and place unbound by the limits of this short narrative. Each one of these men and women is a living example of the triumph of good over evil. Still, the years toll by in their unstoppable pace and their numbers dwindle daily. We should never forget their story, it was written in their blood and reflected in their eyes. To those of us that knew them, it remains etched in our souls forever”.
Miguel Sanchez
Proyecto Los Plantados, Inc.
Losplantados.com
Mr. Miguel Sanchez, encouraged by a historic group of former political prisoners known as “Plantados” presented to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language the meaning of the word Plantado for official adoption and recognition as part of the Spanish vernacular.
PLANTADO.
MEANING: CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONER WHO REFUSED FORCED LABOR AND DECLINED TO ACCEPT THE PROCESS OF REHABILITATION DURING THE ERA OF FIDEL CASTRO. THEIR STANCE UNBROKEN, FIRM, STOIC, REBELLIOUS, WITHOUT COMPROMISE.