Eusebio Peñalver Mazorra
Cuban dissident (1936–2006)
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Eusebio Peñalver Mazorra (July 1, 1936 – 2006) was an Afro-Cuban anti-Castro political prisoner who was captured in 1960 during the Escambray rebellion and spent 28 years in prison before being released in 1988.[1][2]
Early life
He was born in Ciego de Avila, Camagüey, Cuba on July 1, 1936.[3]
Imprisonment
Peñalver alleged that during his time in prison he "suffered the most brutal tortures as a result of continuous harassment for 24 hours a day and seven days a week" and that these "tortures" allowed him to build "a shield of virile resistance" as a "plantado." In a 1999 interview with The Associated Press, he defined a "plantado" as a person who firmly plants his feet while struggling for freedom and democracy in Cuba.[1] During the presidency of George W. Bush, Bush referred to Peñalver as a patriot.[3]