This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from De Gruyter via the DOI in this record.For a proper semistable curve X over a DVR of mixed characteristics we reprove the ”invariant cycles theorem” with trivial coefficients (see [Ch99]) i.e. that the group of elements annihilated by the monodromy operator on the first de Rham cohomology group of the generic fiber of X coincides with the first rigid cohomology group of its special fiber, without the hypothesis that the residue field of V is finite. This is done using the explicit description of the monodromy operator on the de Rham cohomology of the generic fiber of X with coefficients convergent F-isocrystals given in [CoIo10]. We apply these ideas to the case...