Pedro Luis Boitel

Pedro Luis Boitel (May 13, 1931 – May 25, 1972) was a Cuban poet and dissident who opposed the governments of both Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro. In 1961, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Boitel died during a hunger strike in prison in 1972 while serving a sentence handed down by the communist regime.

Before the revolution Pedro Luis Boitel was born into a humble family The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights found that the Cuban government had violated Article I of the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man in their treatment of the prisoner.

On April 3, 1972, Boitel declared himself on hunger strike. After 53 days on hunger strike without receiving medical assistance and receiving only liquids, he died of starvation on May 25, 1972. His last days were related by his close friend, poet Armando Valladares. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the Cólon Cemetery in Havana.