Box 1

Julio Hernández Rojo was born in Havana, Cuba in 1937, and died in Miami, Florida in 1994. Before being arrested as a political prisoner, Hernández Rojo was an architect, art student, and a member of Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil en el Exilio (D.R.E.).

When incarcerated, he began to paint for throughout the fifteen years of his incarceration, his paintings are very well-known for teir variety of color and abundance of optimism when Hernández Rojo was sentenced to death in 1963. His paintings inspired other prisoners to embrace their creativity and influenced them to find their own way to express themselves.