At Midnight

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 Cabaña, 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.