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Armando Valladares

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The Resume

    (May 30, 1937- )
    Born in Pinar del Río, Cuba
    Imprisoned for refusing to put a sign saying 'I'm with Fidel' on his work desk (1960-1982)
    Wrote 'Desde mi Silla de Ruedas' (1976), 'El Corazon Con Que Vivo' (1980), 'Cavernas del Silencio' (1983), 'Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag' (1985), and 'El Alma de un Poeta' (1988)
    US Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council (1988-1990)

Why he might be annoying:

    He initially supported Fidel Castro prior to his dissent.
    Human Rights Watch criticized him for seemingly deflecting attention from human rights abuses in other, non-communist, countries.
    Left-wing politicians around the world felt that the American government is using him as a 'publicity weapon', with one even refusing to appear publicly with his wife.
    He looks like Leslie Nielsen.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was regularly tortured, forced to eat other people's excrement, confined in an extremely cramped cell, and denied healthcare, including a wheelchair as a result of a hunger strike, throughout his incarceration.
    He exposed the human rights violations the Cuban government regularly commits.
    As evidence of his perseverance in the midst of repression, he refused 'political rehabilitation' when offered one.
    He recognizes the value in poetry, writing poems he managed to smuggle out from prison during his imprisonment.

Credit: Big Lenny


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 36 Votes: 8.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 23 Votes: 26.09% Annoying