It was not easy living, however. These people, no matter what their prewar occupation or status, were initially put to work as field hands, twelve to fourteen hours a day, growing vegetables in what had once been our state-run sugar plantations. At least the climate was on their side. The temperature was dropping, the skies were darkening. Mother Nature was kind to them. The guards, however, were not. "Be glad you're alive," they'd shout after each slap or kick. "Keep complaining and we'll throw you to the zombies!"
Even socialist prison guards are prison guards, but the resettlement camps didn't work like this, so you'll excuse my doubt. Even before they were as lax as they were to me, they didn't keep people in resettlement camps for long - there were millions upon millions of people arriving, they couldn't possibly guard them all in camps like this. You got two to three weeks, then got moved on to a more permanent home.
People had to work in a farm or a factory, sure. There was no alternative - Cuba was not a wealthy country, America's blockade had seen to that, and it wasn't a breadbasket. Feeding as many people as they suddenly had to was Cuba's real crisis, so spare me the crocodile tears that everyone had to work.
12 or 14 hour shifts were not commonplace.