Normando Hernández González

Normando Hernández González was the director of the news agency Colegio de Periodistas Independientes de Camagüey when he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was held for many months in an isolation cell at the maximum-security Kilo 7 Prison in his home province of Camagüey.

Blog | Cuba

Trying to forget: Torture haunts freed Cuban journalist

By Normando Hernández González/CPJ Guest Blogger

Normando Hernández González testifies at the European Parliament in September. Free after six years in a Cuban prison, the journalist says he suffered torture in custody. (AP)

I long to forget, but cannot. To erase from my memory the murmurs of suffering, the plaintive screams of torture, the screeching bars, the unmistakable music of padlocks, the garrulous sentinels...