Cuban Dissident Who Wrote Poems in His Own Blood

This short two-minute video about the Cuban dissident Armando Valladares, which includes Elie Wiesel, is inspiring:

An article in The Hill tells us more about his life:

Valladares was arrested at 22 years old for refusing to say, “I am with Fidel.”

During his imprisonment, Valladares wrote letters and poetry, which his wife smuggled and had published, to critical acclaim. Since he had nothing to write on or with, he used anything he could find. Sometimes it was a carefully preserved bit of cigarette paper. Sometimes it was a scrap of torn envelope, or a discarded medicine bottle label. At times he used a pencil or, if he was lucky, he found ingredients to make invisible ink to write secret messages to his beloved wife.

Once, when he was in a punishment cell, he wrote a poem on a scrap of paper using his own blood as ink.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is honoring Armando Valladares this year at their Canterbury Medal Dinner in May 2016. Learn more about this event here at www.becketfund.org/canterbury2016.