Havana/The former Cuban political and trade union prisoner, Siro del Castillo, died at dawn this Saturday in the city of Miami, United States, as confirmed to confirmed 14ymedio several of his friends. Plastic artist, engineer and human rights activist, the exile had been dealing with cancer for months and kept an intense complaint against authoritarianism in Cuba and Latin America until the end of his life.
“Dear friends, friends and family; I remain well in the rehabilitation center until the cancer treatment team, the analysis and me of their recommendations,” he recently wrote in his Facebook account, a wall in which a few days ago he condemned the regime of Nicolás Maduro for violating democracy and ignoring the results of the presidential elections of a year ago.
Del Castillo, born in Havana in 1943, studied at the College of Bethlehem, the same teaching center managed by the Jesuits where, previously, Fidel Castro had received classes. With only 17 years, the Havana adolescent was arrested for his activities against the Castro regime, who barely had, at that time, a year in power.
Given his young age, Del Castillo was sentenced to remain in jail until age 21 and after leaving prison he worked in the Architectural Design Department for the National Institute of the Tourism Industry. In 1970 he resigned from his job and was sent to carry out forced labor in agriculture. In March 1972 he obtained a safe -conduct to get out of Cuba.
Given his young age, Del Castillo was sentenced to remain in jail until the age of 21
In an interview with the journalist Alberto MullerDel Castillo talked about the torn of that banishment and how it was reflected in his plastic work through the constant of “the dream house”. “At the root of that artistic reason is my country, the country I want, the Cuba I want,” he said then. “I dream that each Cuban and every Cuban can have their dream house.”
During the exodus of Mariel, Del Castillo provided help and advice to Cuban refugees in the Krome of Dade County Camp, created by the US State Department. He also worked with migrants from the island at the Fort Chaffee camp, Arkansas and at the Little Havana activities center in New Orleans.
A good part of her life in exile dedicated her to accompany Cuban and Caribbean migrants. In 1994, when the Balser Crisis, Del Castillo was designated as assistant to Ombudsman in the Naval Base of Guantanamo and there it helped prepare refugees for life in the United States.
The exile was also part of numerous associations and human rights projects, in addition to being a member of the Christian Democratic Party of Cuba, a link that led him to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva to denounce the excesses of the dictatorship on the island.
In parallel, Del Castillo continued his work as a painter and cartoonist and was part of the Miami Hispanic artist community
In parallel, Del Castillo continued with his work as a painter and cartoonist and was part of the community of Hispanic artists in Miami, also worked as commissioner for the Caribbean of the Latin American Commission for the rights and freedoms of workers and peoples. On several occasions he joined the meetings organized by the Coexistence Center to discuss the future of Cuba.
He received, in 2000, the freedom and justice award for all granted by the Center for Defenders of Immigrants from Florida and the FACE (Facts About Cuban Exiles) honored him with the Prize of Directors for his services to the community.
All the people who met him and worked with Del Castillo, summarize his personality as impeccable, generous, fair and altruistic.
