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Freedom Collection

Interviews with Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antúnez

Interviewed December 27, 2024

My name is Jorge Luis Garcia Perez- Antúnez.

Antúnez is my father’s last name, but for family reasons, when I came of age I decided to only use my mother’s last name. That is why my official name is Jorge Luis Garcia Perez.

I was born October 10, 1964, a day commemorating the start of Cuba’s wars for independence when [Carlos] Manuel de Cespedes liberated his slaves in 1868. I was born in Placetas, in the Villa Clara province, formerly Las Villas province. I come from a humble home. My mother was a housewife and my father a shoe cobbler. I had a normal childhood.

[Carlos Manuel de Cespedes (1819 – 1874) was a Cuban revolutionary who declared a short-lived independence from Spain and was elected president of the revolutionary government. He was killed by Spanish troops after they defeated the insurrection.]

I studied in different schools, always with scholarships inasmuch as my family’s difficult economic situation required, and I attended boarding schools throughout my studies. It was a normal childhood and adolescence except for when I began experiencing political repression. For example, as a young man, I questioned the role the [Fidel] Castro regime played in the Grenada invasion. While conversing with friends I publicly blamed the Castro regime for the deaths of Cubans that were there.

[Fidel Castro (1926 – ) led the Cuban Revolution and seized power in 1959. He established a communist dictatorship in Cuba and led the country until 2008. In 1983, the United States invaded the small Caribbean nation of Grenada after a communist coup overthrew the country’s socialist government. Despite receiving support from a small contingent of Cuban soldiers and engineers, the new communist leaders were defeated by American forces within days.]

I had to drop out of school. I always dreamed of becoming a lawyer. It was, and still is, my calling. I saw that dream cut short for two reasons. First, my family’s economic situation forced me to abandon my studies to help support my family. Then, when I began to study outside the university, I was unable to continue because my beliefs conflicted with those of the regime. That is why my professional life was cut short and I never became an attorney.

I married Iris Tamara Perez Aguilera, another human rights activist who founded and headed the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights. I have no children. Sadly I can’t because I suffered various infections in prison that prevent me from doing so.

[The Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights is a Cuban civil society organization that defends the rights of activists, political prisoners, and the poor.]