At Midnight - (Diaspora and Migration Studies) by Javier Arzuaga (Paperback)

About the Book

A young Basque finds himself the consoler of and attendant to those condemned by Cuba's revolutionary leadership in 1959. "It is not easy to talk to a man with a death sentence " Javier said-and he had to speak with fifty-five.

Book Synopsis

Javier Arzuaga was a boy when he was sent to the priesthood by his devoutly Catholic and traditional parents. He took to the priesthood reluctantly and after his vows he was sent to Cuba where he lived through the revolution of 1959 with elation. His parish included La Caba the fortress prison where the accomplices of the deposed dictator who had not fled the island were held. It was his fate to be present at each of the fifty-five executions carried out between February and May of 1959. And he did not witness the events as a spectator, but as the consoler of and attendant to the condemned men. "It is not easy to talk to a man with a death sentence" Javier used to say-- and he had to speak with fifty-five.

Review Quotes

"In this age of almost daily atrocity, it is easy to become inured to arbitrary death. Reading At Midnight is a profound antidote to such complacency. Thanks to Arzuaga, I will go to my own grave much more keenly aware of the value, yet vulnerability, of every human life."
--William A. Douglass, author of Australianuak

About the Author

Javier Arzuaga was a Basque priest that served in La Cabana after the Cuban Revolution, consoling those imprisoned before their execution.