Career
Antúnez was jailed for 17 years from 1990 to 2007. Other dissidents have referred to Antúnez as Cuba"s Nelson Mandela. Saying that was a crime and he was sentenced to five years in prison.
In prison, he refused to wear the uniform and participate in "communist re-education", which meant a violent beating, nine months in solitary confinement and more years in prison.
His mother died a month later. He was found guilty of "attempted sabotage".
One of the charges was failure to respect the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. His courage received worldwide attention.
Pope John Paul II, when visiting Cuba in 1998, asked the regime to release him.
Antúnez was released in 2007, ahead of talks on European Union sanctions, after being imprisoned for 17 years and 34 days. Several leaders from Uruguay, Costa Rica, and Argentina declared their support for Antúnez. Police threatened Antúnez with eviction from his house and "disobedience" charges for hosting three other dissident thinkers (Osiris Santana Pérez, Ernesto Mederos Arrozarena and Carlos Michael Morales Rodríguez) in his home in April 2009.
Antúnez"s wife founded the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights.
