📸 Photo

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

in prison I had never heard that expression used once.

'What are derechos humanos?' I asked Chino quietly, a little embarrassed not to have understood the joke.

'I don't know how to explain to you, my brother,' he responded loudly, so that everyone could hear. He looked up into the sky for inspiration and said philosophically, 'They don't exist. That's it. Derechos humanos are something that don't really exist.' This made the others smirk again.

'What? Like an illusion?' I asked, and the others laughed louder than the first time.

'Something like that,' he responded, smiling wryly at me. I was still confused but no one would explain. Then the others joined in teasing me.

'What are you saying, inglés?' Chapako asked in mock seriousness. 'You don't know what derechos humanos are?'

'What's so funny about that?' I answered, trying to go along with the teasing. 'So what? I don't know what they are.'

'Neither do we, inglés,' Ramero responded and this sent the others into bigger fits of laughter. 'We can't tell you because we've never heard of them either.' This made them hysterical. They kept playing with me like that until, eventually, I caught on.

Human rights. They were coming to visit.

Everyone remained in a good mood sitting along the wall, leaning against the warm bricks, which had heated up over the course of the afternoon. I was beginning to really enjoy this human rights caper. I concentrated hard on absorbing the sun into my body. I only wished that I could be like a lizard and store some of the warmth to stop me from shivering at night. Sometimes it felt like my body wanted to just give up and stop heating itself. But at that moment at least, I was happy, with a full, warm belly.

'What's the time?' I asked Ramero, who was the only one in La Grulla who hadn't sold his watch to the guards yet.

'Four o'clock.' The guards still hadn't come.

No one said anything for several minutes more. I was quite content just resting there, until Jorge Velasco came over and crouched down beside me and ruined it. A shiver of pure hatred ran down my back and my muscles tensed so suddenly that I almost bit through my tongue. Chino gave me a threatening look, warning me not to spoil it for everyone.

305