Vol. 79/No. 1      January 19, 2015

Absolved by Solidarity, a full-color book of new paintings and text by Antonio Guerrero, has just been released by Pathfinder Press. Guerrero is one of the Cuban Five freed Dec. 17, 2014. Below are introductory comments from the new book by Mary-Alice Waters, president of Pathfinder and the book’s editor.

On December 17, 2014, more than sixteen years after the battle began, Cuban president Raúl Castro informed the world that Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, and Antonio Guerrero were home. They join René González and Fernando González on Cuban soil.

Across the island Cubans poured into the streets from factories, schools, and offices expressing their joy. Supporters around the world joined in celebration.

Gerardo Hernández gave voice to the sentiments of each of the Five when he told a national television audience in Cuba, “We’ve turned the page on the pain and abuses of prison. We’re on a new page now,” ready for new battles. “You can count on us for whatever is needed,” he told President Castro, who welcomed them at the airport.

Above all, it was the firmness, dignity, courage, and discipline of the Five that made possible the hard-fought victory won by the people of Cuba, their government, and a “jury of millions” around the world.

As Washington moves toward establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba for the first time in more than half a century, a new front has now opened in the decades-long battle to defend Cuban independence and sovereignty. Raúl Castro explained it unflinchingly in his message to the Cuban people: “In no way has the heart of the matter been solved. The economic, commercial, and financial blockade, which causes enormous human and economic damages to our country, must cease.” The battle to advance and defend Cuba’s socialist revolution continues as it has since January 1, 1959.

Absolved by Solidarity was on its way to press the day its principal author and artist was freed from prison. The printing was postponed long enough to record that victory on the cover and add these few words and photographs. Publication of this powerful portrait of sixteen years of struggle could not be more timely. In its pages you will find not a backward glance at the “pain and abuses of prison.” You will find the dignity, strength, and humanity of the Cuban Revolution and the five unbowed soldiers who have become the face of that revolution the world over.

Absolved by Solidarity, indeed. As promised by Fidel, they have returned.

Mary-Alice Waters
December 20, 2014