4C
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015
PARTING SHOT
A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers
A pedestrian strolls along the path near the West End Mooring Basin.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
ODDITY
In Castro’s Cuba, some pigs more equal than others
Jailing of
street artist has
Orwellian feel
By ANDREA
RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press
HAVANA — The Cuban
street artist known as El
Sexto was freed this week
after spending 10 months
behind bars for attempting
to set free in a public park
two pigs painted with the
names of the country’s high-
est leaders.
International
human
rights groups called his
case a vivid demonstration
of how Cuba’s harsh limits
on free expression remain
in full force despite its eco-
nomic opening and detente
with the United States.
Maldonado, 33, was ar-
rested a week after the dec-
laration of detente last year
as he drove toward Havana’s
Central Park in a rented car
with two pigs covered with
green paint and the names
Fidel and Raul in red, in
mockery of Cuba’s revolu-
tionary leader Fidel Castro
and his brother who has led
the country since 2008.
Untouchables
Until recently, Maldona-
do’s case had drawn less at-
tention than that of expatriate
Cuban artist Tania Bruguera,
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after she tried to convene a
free speech forum in Cu-
ba’s Plaza of the Revolution
shortly after Dec. 17. Bru-
guera has since had her pass-
port returned and left Cuba.
But in recent months,
Amnesty International and
other human rights group
began calling for Maldona-
do’s release and describing
his case as a test of Cuba’s
openness to dissent.
His detention showed
that “there are some topics
and themes that journal-
ists and writers know they
can’t touch,” said Elizardo
Sanchez, head of Cuba’s
non-governmental
Cuban
Commission for Human
Rights and National Recon-
ciliation.
Maldonado told The Asso-
ciated Press that he had been
held without charge since
Dec. 25 “simply because I
made fun of the highest lead-
ers of this revolution.”
Desmond Boylan/AP Photo
Danilo Maldonado, better known as El Sexto, stands at the entrance of his home after being released from jail, in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday. Maldona-
do was freed after 10 months behind bars for attempting to release two pigs painted with the names of Raul and Fidel Castro, the country’s current
president and former leader.
Swift and harsh
condemnation
Cuba has been gradually
loosening central control of
the economy and allowing
slightly more open discourse
in state-run media and an art
world that requires state ap-
proval for everything from
gallery and theater space to
permission to import mate-
rials.
The country’s leaders
remain sacrosanct howev-
er, and attempts at political
organization or questioning
of the country’s single-par-
ty system are met with swift
and harsh condemnation.
While never formally
charged, Maldonado was
accused of the crime of dis-
respect toward government
officials, a violation that can
bring a 1- to 3-year sentence
under Cuban law.
“We are very happy to
learn that in the end he is
being freed,” said Robin
Guittard, Caribbean cam-
paigner for Amnesty Inter-
Desmond Boylan/AP Photo
Maria Victoria Machado stands in her living room, wearing a T-shirt featuring a stencil art
image of her son Danilo Maldonado, better known as El Sexto, in Havana, Cuba.
national. “He’s just an artist
who tried to do an art show,
to use his legitimate right to
freedom of expression. That
should never lead people to
be sent to prison. That’s a
very cold reminder of what’s
the situation of freedom of
expression today in Cuba.”
Creative dissent
In April, Maldonado re-
ceived the Vaclav Havel
International Prize for Cre-
ative Dissent from the New
York-based Human Rights
Foundation.
“A government that
doesn’t let itself be criti-
cized starts to lose credi-
bility,” said Maldonado’s
mother, Maria Victoria
Machado.
Dressed in grey shorts,
sneakers and a T-shirt, Mal-
donaldo munched a sand-
wich Tuesday afternoon as
relatives, well-wishers and
reporters began to fill his
home.
“I want to now connect
with the people that support-
ed me, “ he said, telling the
AP that he planned to re-
quest a visa for the United
States and travel to Miami
“to be close to people who
think like I do, people in ex-
ile, who had to leave.”
He said he planned to re-
cover his strength and ener-
gy and return to Cuba after
six months.