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<h2><b>The bird and the prisoner</b></h2><font size=3>This is How it All
Began -
<a href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/especiales/2009/11/17/historia-gerardo-hernandez-prision-ave-pajaro/">
Espanol</a><br><br>
By Alicia Jrapko<br><br>
Translation: Machetera<br><br>
Once upon a time, a bird made friends with a prisoner. Both were
incarcerated in the United States and both were unjustly imprisoned for
defending Cuba from terrorist activity.<br><br>
This is how the story began. On June 4, 2009, the same day as his
birthday, Gerardo Hernandez heard about this creature. He found out
about it through a prisoner whose last name was Lira, who worked in the
prison factory. Lira and a guard were cleaning the roof with a
pressure hose and without meaning to or perhaps without knowing, they
destroyed a nest that contained three chicks. Two of them died
instantly but one remained alive. They were so tiny that they
didn't even have any feathers. It's possible that they had just
barely hatched.<br><br>
The guard was visibly moved, and feeling responsible, allowed Lira to
bring the chick secretly inside the prison to try to save it. The
prisoner arrived with the chick in the palm of his hand and not knowing
what to do with it, began to ask the other prisoners what to do.
Someone suggested: Ask Cuba [the nickname the prisoners had given
Gerardo]; he likes animals and surely he will know what to
do." That's how Gerardo came to be summoned, and he came to
the cell where they kept the bird.<br><br>
Gerardo's first reaction was to whistle, imitating what he imagined the
chick's mother would have done. He moved his fingers as though they
were little wings. Miraculously, the little bird opened its
beak. Gerardo began to give it breadcrumbs and later, dipped his
fingers in water and let the drops fall softly into the little bird's
beak.<br><br>
Gerardo didn't want to take the bird to his cell, but every day he went
to feed it. The problem was that at the beginning, the bird didn't
want to take food from anyone except Gerardo. One day it occurred
to Gerardo to offer the chick a few slivers of fish, and afterwards the
rascal didn't want breadcrumbs any more. His feathers began to grow
and so Gerardo taught it to eat on its own. He put the bits of food
in the palm of his hand and the little bird came fearlessly.<br><br>
However, the prisoners were worried. If an inspection were to
happen, the little bird would be a problem. Since he was already
quite a bit bigger, they let him loose in the patio so that he might fly
free. The bird flew a little while and then returned to Gerardo's
shoulder. Every time he tried to fly with the other birds, they
rejected him with little pecks. Little by little he gained
confidence. <br><br>
Gerardo went alone to the wing where his cell was, but when he returned
to the patio, the bird also returned to see him.<br><br>
Once there were many prisoners in the patio. Someone told Gerardo
that the bird was perched on the concertina wire surrounding the
prison. Gerardo whistled, and in front of all the prisoners, the
little bird appeared out of nowhere and landed on his shoulder.
Incredible. Everyone talked about it.The little bird was named
Cardinal, because Gerardo had painted its tail feathers with a red marker
to distinguish him from all the rest. The ink affected the bird a
bit. It lost its tail feathers but only for a little while.
Later they grew back, in their natural color. However, the name
remained: Cardinal.<br><br>
On a different occasion another prisoner found the little bird in the
patio with its beak stretched open. It was very hot, and the bird
was thirsty. Gerardo gave it water. He hid the bird under his
hat in order to go inside without the bird being seen. Of course
the guards realized he had something odd on his head. "What's under
the hat?" they asked, and Gerardo answered, "Nothing."
Cardinal answered as well, whistling like crazy. "Don't tell
me you're training him to take messages to Fidel," said one of the
guards, laughing.<br><br>
The story didn't end there. Gerardo brought the bird to his cell
and made a nest for him to stay there with him. He played with him,
letting him rest on his shoulder, or on his head. When Gerardo was
writing, the bird came to play and Gerardo would pet him gently, to calm
him. So Cardinal would run along his back, where he'd be out of
reach. Sometimes he curled up inside Gerardo's collar and slept
there. Or he pecked at his friend's ear and when Gerardo moved his
head, he'd go for the other ear.<br><br>
Once when Gerardo had let Cardinal go, he flew toward the cafeteria and
landed on the plate of a very large, tough prisoner who was eating a
piece of chicken. The prisoner caught the bird in his hands,
meaning to strangle him and someone shouted, "Don"t kill
him! He belongs to Cuba." The outcry took the prisoner
by surprise. He let Cardinal go and asked, surprised, "And who
the hell is Cuba?"<br><br>
Gerardo was actually very worried. A certain guard was not showing
any mercy toward the little bird. During an inspection, the guard
had forced Gerardo to let Cardinal go, and closed the door behind
him. The little bird returned later, completely exhausted.
Gerardo let him rest for a few days inside his cell. And then came
the lockdown (solitary confinement as punishment for all prisoners), and
whenever there's a lockdown, there are inspections.<br><br>
When Gerardo heard that they were checking all the space between the
floor and the door, he pushed Cardinal outside. Cardinal flew,
within the wing where Gerardo's cell was located. When the guard
arrived, he saw the box where Cardinal lived. Gerardo said that
this was where his friend lived, of his own free will: "The problem
is that I take him outside and he returns; it's not my
fault."<br><br>
"Look," said the guard, gesturing as though to say he thought
Gerardo was nuts, "if you think I'm going to believe that bird is
going to return…"<br><br>
Gerardo whistled from his cell and the guard froze in his tracks as he
watched the bird return. <br><br>
Cardinal had no problem picking out the cell belonging to his friend,
among the huge array of cells on two floors that looked exactly
alike.<br><br>
Cardinal arrived at Gerardo's cell. He looked at him through the
bars but couldn't enter (since this was lockdown). He waited there
nervously, until Gerardo couldn't stand it any more and opened the slot
where food was delivered, and Cardinal came in. A few days later
there was another inspection. When the guards arrived at Gerardo's
cell, he told them that he had a small bird, so they wouldn't be scared
if the bird should happen to fly overhead. He was told that he had
to release it, but since none of them could catch the bird, they brought
Gerardo to the entrance for the entire wing so that he could let it go
himself. <br><br>
Since they were in lockdown, Gerardo and the little bird walked down the
passageway, escorted by the guards. All the other prisoners saw
them through the bars of their cells and began to shout: "They're
taking Cuba and the bird to the hole!" as they banged their doors in
protest. <br><br>
The guard shouted, "Calm down! He's not going to the hole;
we're just going to free the bird!"<br><br>
That was the last time that Gerardo saw Cardinal. The lockdown
lasted a month while the wing was completely shut down. Gerardo
couldn't leave and Cardinal couldn't enter. The little bird had
been inside this rough high-security prison since Gerardo's birthday,
from June 4th, and he remained there until July 16th, one day after the
wedding anniversary of Gerardo and his wife, Adriana.<br><br>
And that's the end of this (true) story.<br><br>
<br><br>
Alicia Jrapko wrote this story from memory, two hours after hearing it
from Gerardo during a visit to the maximum security prison in
Victorville, California. Gerardo later revised and corrected the
text, which Alicia plans to present to Casa Editora Abril so that it can
be published as a children's story. Gerardo is incarcerated under a
double life sentence plus 15 years, for unproven charges made against him
in a highly prejudiced trial in Miami.<br><br>
Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo was born in Havana on June 4, 1965; the third
child of Gerardo Hernandez Marta and Carmen Nordelo Tejera, both
deceased. He is a graduate of the Raul Roa Garcia Foreign Services
Institute (ISRI). One year before graduating, he and his wife
Adriana Perez O'Connor were married. He is a cartoonist and graphic
artist who has worked in both Cuba and the United States. In the
mid-1990s, he served missions in the United States, designed to protect
Cuba from the terrorist actions planned and executed by
counter-revolutionary organizations located in Miami. On September
12, 1998, he was arrested along with four other men and subjected to a
trial plagued with irregularities and prejudice, in Miami. He was
convicted, without any evidence whatsoever, and sentenced to two life
terms plus 15 years, which he is serving in a high security prison in
Victorville, California.<br><br>
Machetera is a member of <a href="http://www.tlaxcala.es/">Tlaxcala</a>,
the network of translators for linguistic diversity. This translation may
be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the source,
author, and translator are cited.<br><br>
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