I write my humble recommendations to the new President-elect and to others who will read this essay as an activist who has spent more than 17 years of uninterrupted confinement in filthy jails simply for expressing my desire for change. The reforms that I have advocated are the same as those that were demanded in Central Europe in public squares and streets two decades ago. And it is with this experience that I urge you to remember that the hope for change in Cuba is still alive.

Geographic proximity, the close historical ties uniting the American and Cuban people, and above all the unavoidable influence that the U.S. has on Cuba mean that we have all watched with great interest the elections and await your policies toward Cuba. I have never believed that either of the parties, Republican or Democratic, has the answer for Cuba. Under both parties, governments have made mistakes. But irrespective of the party in power, Cuban freedom has always been able to count on the U.S. as its most loyal friend and ally.

As a peaceful democracy and human-rights activist, I believe…

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Jorge Luis García Pérez Antúnez, one of Cuba’s longest-serving political prisoners, was released in April 2008 after serving 17 years.