The Four were brought to trial on March 1 amid a roundup and detention of dissidents. No verdict has yet been announced. The others are Felix Bonne Carcases, Rene Gomez Manzano and Vladimiro Roca Antunez. Roque wrote this letter to her colleagues; the letter was smuggled out of Cuba.

Occidental Prison for Women Manto Negro, Feb. 7, 1999.

My dear, unforgettable brothers Felix, Vladimiro and Rene:

If God permits this letter to reach you, it will be the first time in 18 months and 22 days that we can communicate. Nevertheless, through my family, I have always heard about how you were doing.

I made each of you a Christmas card and knitted a small coverlet with the logo of the group with my own hands, thanks to the help of a fellow prisoner. I also made you cards for Valentine's Day, which I pray reached you.

My main reason for writing is to inform you of my decision to go on a hunger strike beginning on March 16, the date marking 20 months of incarceration. If by that date we do not have a trial date, I will start a hunger strike that will not end until we go to trial or until I go to my tomb.

Of course, we always hold on to the hope that the solution of unconditional liberty will occur.

Someone has spoken about the possibility that the authorities might deport us. I believe that to achieve this end, they would have to take extreme measures. They would have to shackle me or inject me with a sedative against my will. I remain in my belief that the homeland belongs to all of us.

Sufficient time has passed, and there have been enough postponements -- the time for liberty in this small prison will not wait. I picked the date to allow the time for this letter to reach you so that we might arrive at a consensus in joining me in this hunger strike, which of course, is only one option. If we can all agree, we will announce our decision to the world. I beg that none of you allows himself to be deceived if some people tell you that one of us has called off the hunger strike, especially if they say that it was I. I would prefer to receive the sacrament of extreme unction than give up, and I am willing to be the martyr. All of you know me well.

My brothers, I believe that we should not fear the shadows because their presence means that a light shines from a place not far away. Our struggle for our nation's democratization already has been marked by this imprisonment. We have endured and passed a difficult test that will make us individuals more persistent in our demands. Sometimes the path less traveled is so for good reason.

I will be convinced of our cause's justice to my last breath. And if history must be repeated because the first time we paid little attention, then I am willing to take this path again.

I want you to think about my proposal. Analyze it. Above all, put yourselves in my place. May God allow us to find consensus. The wait for me is over.

I greet you with all the affection that we have professed for each other from this horrible place that has nothing to do with me, this place that is about to grant me a new university degree in the sciences of the dustbin of life.

My brothers, even if we are sent to our deaths, we already have made a mark in life, and we always will be a symbol to all of the world of repression, despite the laughable defamation to which we have been subjected by the regime.

May God permit us to be together forever in the struggle. With love,

Marta Beatriz (Roque Cabello)