Héctor Fernando Maseda Gutiérrez is a Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n nuclear engineer and a journalist.

The Fidel Castro regime arrested him during the 2003 "Black Spring"

Black Spring (Cuba)

Black Spring refers to the 2003 crackdown on Cuban dissidents. The government imprisoned 75 dissidents, that included 29 journalists, as well as librarians, human rights activists, and democracy activists, on the basis that they were acting as agents of the United States by accepting aid from...

 and sentenced him to 20 years in jail. He was released in February, 2011. In 2008, he won an International Press Freedom Award

CPJ International Press Freedom Awards

The CPJ International Press Freedom Awards honour journalists around the world who show courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment. Created in 1991, the awards are administered by the Committee to Protect Journalists....

 from the Committee to Protect Journalists

Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...

. The award is given for journalists who show courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment.
He was a nuclear engineer before being sacked at the end of the 1980s for ideological errors.

Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez was married to Laura Inés Pollán Toledo

Laura Pollán

Laura Inés Pollán Toledo was a prominent Cuban opposition leader. Pollan founded the dissident group, Ladies in White, which holds pacific protest marches with the wives and spouses of political prisoners in Cuba to demand their release. The Ladies in White are routinely and violently repressed by...

. Pollán Toledo was a founding member of the Ladies in White

Ladies in White

Ladies in White is an opposition movement in Cuba consisting of wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents. The women protest the imprisonments by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets dressed in white clothing...

. She lost her job as a high school Spanish teacher in 2003. Laura Inés Pollán Toledo died on October 14, 2011 confirmed by the Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 and BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

.

In prison, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez managed to write his memoirs, Enterrados Vivos (English: Buried Alive), which was smuggled out one page at time. His wife sent a copy to Fidel Castro. Upon his release in February, Meseda claimed that he was "released against his will," as he refused to leave jail unless he was exonerated or pardoned, along with the rest of the Black Spring prisoners.