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His land is not politics, but heritage Cuban Environment
Cuban Ariel Ruiz Urquiola ended this Tuesday a hunger strike and thirst that he held for 16 days.
On May 8, the 43-year-old doctor of biological sciences was sentenced to one year in prison for "outrage" .
With his protest, he claimed the government of his country for what he regards as a politicized lawsuit
"They informed me that they would give me an "extrapenal" license "for health reasons," says BBC Mundo in a telephone conversation from his home, where he is recovering.
The first thing that 39 he tried when he stopped the strike was a mango juice that was given to him by the staff of Abel Santamaría Hospital, in the western province of Pinar del Río, where he was transferred from prison when his health weakens
.] Ruiz Urquiola says that vipbadana meditation has helped to "alleviate suffering" in prison.
"During the strike, I was convinced that when you were deprived of your liberty you can choose to liberate yourself . When death is voluntary, he says.
Who is he and what is he doing?
When Urquiola is seen in the few videos posted on YouTube by activists and the media, he seems to be an informed and energetic man. Someone really committed to what he defends
Amnesty International declared "prisoner of conscience" and demanded that he be released "immediately and unconditionally" .
End of June spokesman of the US State Department He expressed particular concern about the ecologist.
The confrontation with the authorities who left him in prison began on May 3rd.
While he was working on the fence of his farm in the Viñales National Park – a declared World Heritage site by UNESCO – two members of the Guards Corps entered the Urquiola property. .
They wanted him to show them the legal authorizations for the activities he carried out, as well as the ownership of their work tools, according to witnesses who spoke to Amnesty International and a video in which the scientist recorded the moment of the incident. 19659023] Viñales Valley in Pinar del Río, Cuba "src =" https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/15B36/production/_102268888_gettyimages-513460202.jpg "alto =" 549 "ancho =" 976 "/ >
an exchange of words in which the "visitors" refused to identify Urquiola compared his procedures with those of the "rural guard", a repressive apparatus of the de facto government of Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s.
Assures that, despite the ordering of all documents, the following day was cited and detained by the police of Viñales.
He was charged with " disobedience " to the authorities
The trial took place five days later.
The jury rejected the means of defense, including video recording where the environmentalist documents the officers' visit to his farm and irregularities in his treatment.
According to the lawyers consulted by the Cuban independent media, for a citizen like him – useful in society and without a criminal record – the maximum penalty of one year for contempt is considered as unusual.
The parents of the biologist maintain that the trial was politicized .
Uncomfortable for the authorities
Although this episode was the straw that broke the camel's back, Urquiola had already had confrontations with the authorities before.
In his scientific career, Urquiola has developed projects that have more than once ended up pointing and exposing different government institutions.
For example, in 2008, he denounced at an academic event in Baja California that the island government had authorized the illegal fishing of sea turtles at risk of harm. extinction .
The only country in the world with legal resources for fishing these turtles ", says Urquiola to BBC Mundo.
Following his complaint, he said: "Cuba has ceased to receive the millionaire income from the export of hawksbill turtles in Japan, so this investigation has caused huge financial losses to the government. "
After that, the University of Havana prevented him from defending his doctoral dissertation for a year, and imposed other sanctions such as demotion to a lower grade and a higher grade. lower economic compensation.
It states that in 2016, when its critics made it uncomfortable, the Marine Research Center of the University of Havana returned it. [19659019] Ariel Urquiola on his farm ” src=”https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/BEF6/production/_102268884_image_6483441.jpg” alto=”360″ ancho=”640″/>
That's why he decided to rent a farm in Viñales, where he could develop projects like the one he had until the time of his arrest: the construction of a biogranja for the conservation of species endemic [19659006] as in Cuba ] as the Caribbean mahogany. [19659005] But this new scientific project also caused friction with local authorities
The biologist once denounced how tourists and peasants of the region violated the environmental codes stipulated, after collecting 82 illegal traps for hunting hunting (a species of rodent in danger of extinction) and brought them to the authorities.
Affirms that no one has paid attention.
"To remove the land"
The Urquiola farm was rented as usufruct.
Cuban legislation establishes that the usufruct of state-owned land loses the right of usufruct if it is absent for more than six months.
The sister of the biologist, Omara Urquiola, thinks that the lawsuit against her hides a maneuver of the local government to remove the farm .
"Neither my principles nor my values allow me to live in a state of shame, which puts me on an equal footing with a criminal and I am not a criminal ", Urquiola had said to her sister this weekend.
"My brother's case highlights the state of corruption and lack of control of the legal system in Cuba and the way in which legal processes are tainted with irregularities," says Omara, a professor University on the Island
The government of the island has not pronounced on the case of this scientist, asks BBC Mundo
For the brothers Urquiola, it remains now to see what their liberation actually means.
According to the Cuban Penal Code, the "extrapenal license" is a legal figure that "the court may grant those who are sanctioned to the deprivation of liberty, for justified reasons and on request, (…) during the judged time necessary. "
" This document must be reviewed with the lawyers and from there decide how I continue in the fight for my rights as a citizen of Cuba since I have not committed any crime or no disease, "insists the scientist
The Urquiola family fears that it will be used later to bring him back to prison .
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