The Mariposas of Antonio Guerrero

AS many people are learning, Antonio Guerrero, one of the five Cuban anti-terrorists incarcerated in the United States, has emerged as a proficient painter during his lengthy confinement in prison in Florence, Colorado.

Like his four brothers in cause, he has made his time productive and through the medium of his art he has become an active contributor to the struggle towards their freedom.

Antonio has mastered a variety of painting techniques that has drawn considerable attention in the many exhibits of his work shown in countries around the world. His exhibit "Desde mi Altura" (From my Altitude) has been touring cities across the United States for the past two years.

Antonio collaborated with U.S. photographer Bill Hackwell in 2008 to produce an exhibit of portraits of activists in the struggle for the freedom of the Cuban 5 entitled "Bridge of Solidarity," which traveled for over a year to every major city in Cuba. One of Antonio's most significant projects was his paintings of "Birds of the Americas," completed for Cuba’s Natural History Museum.

In 2009, when Antonio was painting "Birds of the Americas," the director of the National Museum, Dr. Reinaldo Rojas proposed that he should paint the endemic butterflies of Cuba and that was how the project began.

After determining that there were 27 different species of endemic butterflies of Cuba, two of them extinct, the problem was to find the images for Antonio so he could paint each one of them. To obtain the images, it was decided to photograph the 25 butterflies that were preserved in the Cuban Ecology Institute. Jorge Fontenla, a specialist and biologist at the Natural History Museum, was the adviser and coordinator of the project.

Liborio Nodal, an outstanding Cuban photographer, offered to go to the museum to photograph the collection, and thus provide Antonio with detailed images to paint from.

This was not the first time Antonio and Liborio had collaborated on a project. Last year a joint exhibit of their work was displayed in Paris, France.

Antonio started painting the endemic butterflies of Cuba in early March this year and continued virtually without interruption until he finished the last one on June 11. The technique he used for the project was water color.

Upon completion of this series he commented, "I almost felt like I was in a dream, and yes, for me it is a dream come true. I hope all this work will be displayed to help our National Museum in its important mission of letting our people know about and be aware of our natural history, so closely linked today to the revolutionary work that zealously guards our flora and fauna."

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5

THE BUTTERFLY THAT I AM PAINTING

Some have white spots,
Others, black strips…
The butterfly which I am painting
Is fluttering in my chest.

I look at it, it moves its wings;
It looks at me, laughs, and I am happy
When it alights gently
on the flower that I carry within.

Like a sigh of love
it leaps from the open calyx
and with its divine grace
gives colors to the sky.

Spring without gardens
under prison clouds,
but butterflies fly
in watercolors and in verses.