In March 2003, Normando Hern谩ndez Gonz谩lez was among seventy-five Cuban journalists who were hunted down and arrested in what became known as the 鈥淏lack Spring.鈥 For reporting outside the regime-endorsed perspective, the men were tried and sentenced to Cuba鈥檚 harshest prisons. Under the most brutal conditions, the journalists remained united, protesting to protect their countrymen鈥檚 human rights. After nearly a decade, the Cuban government finally released and exiled the dissenters in 2010, Hern谩ndez among them. One year later, Adam Braver and Molly Gessford traveled to Madrid, Spain to meet Hern谩ndez and record his remarkable story.
Normando Hern谩ndez Gonz谩lez continues to work as a journalist and serves as Director General of the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Speech and Press, a nonprofit NGO he founded in 2011 to protect the inalienable freedoms of the Cuban people.
Adam Braver is the author of five novels. He is on faculty and a writer-in-residence at Roger Williams University.
Molly Gessford teaches English as a foreign language in Boston. She interned for the PEN American Center while earning her BA at Roger Williams University.