Quote by Reinaldo Arenas: “To write is to resist, to exist, to make clear the darkness.”

This quote powerfully links the act of writing with a deep form of resistance and self-affirmation. It suggests that through words, one can challenge oppressive forces, assert one's presence, and illuminate truths that others try to suppress.

During a time when dissidents' voices were emerging from former communist states, Arenas's testament highlighted writing as an act of existential defiance. It articulated the belief that art could pierce through state-imposed obscurity and assert individual truth, even under severe censorship.

Cuban novelist and poet who was imprisoned by the Castro regime for his homosexuality and dissident writing before escaping to the United States in 1980. His memoir Before Night Falls, published posthumously in 1992, is a foundational work of Latin American queer literature.