It is the second time in eight months that the association has spoken out in support of the teacher
EFE/14ymedio, Havana, July 5, 2024 — On Thursday, more than 50 academics from the Association of Latin American Studies (LASA) urged the executive committee of that group to publicly condemn the “political repression” in Cuba after the allegations of police violence against the critical intellectuals Alina Bárbara López and Jenny Pantoja. It would be the second time that the Association, historically considered favorable to the Cuban regime, has raised its voice for the professor.
Among the signatories are Mexican professors and researchers Alejandro Monsiváis and Carlos Torrealba, the Cuban American economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago, the Brazilian sociologist María Hermínia Tavares, the Cuban economists Omar Everleny, Pavel Vidal and Pedro Monreal, as well as the historian Rafael Rojas, brother of the former Cuban Deputy Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas.
The text, advanced by the independent website CubaXCuba (CXC), calls for LASA’s condemnation of “the political repression in Cuba, intensified during the last year and increased,” against López, historian, editor and member of the group, and against the anthropologist Pantoja.
Among the signatories are Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Omar Everleny, Pavel Vidal and Pedro Monreal, as well as the historian Rafael Rojas
Regarding López’s case, subscribers point out that since October 2022, “she has suffered persecution and various violations of her rights to free movement, thought and expression, among others.
In addition, they say that the renowned academic “has been a victim of practices that qualify as torture, and cruel, inhumane and harmful treatment to human dignity. Just for writing, expressing her critical ideas about Cuban reality and civic formation, and demonstrating peacefully.”
In a recounting of the situations that the 58-year-old historian has confronted with the local authorities, the last two refer to physical aggressions that have caused her bodily injuries.”
“The harassment has intensified,” they argue, pointing out that both events occurred when she was trying to travel to Havana – on April 18 and June 18 – after which she was taken by the political police to a police station in the city of Matanzas, where she lives.
Specifically, the academics urge the LASA council to reiterate “its position in defense of the freedom of expression,” “condemn the political persecution” against López and Pantoja, and any other person, and express their solidarity with both intellectuals for their “unjust prosecution.”
In December 2023, LASA, after weeks of doubt, took the step that its members expected to “condemn political repression in Cuba” in general terms, although the pronouncement then also came “in particular” for López Hernández, who had been found guilty of a crime of disobedience in November.
This fact was unprecedented since the organization was historically linked to the regime. In 2015, 14ymedio published a column by Manuel Cuesta Morúa, who was satisfied with the “turn towards ideological plurality” that the association had made. In his opinion, the process began in 2011, when it started to “open up to criticism of the leftists in power from the intellectual left.”
In December 2023, LASA, after weeks of doubt, took the step that its members were waiting for to “condemn political repression in Cuba” in general terms
However, in May 2021, a large group of at least 300 people signed an open letter criticizing LASA’s lukewarm statement in the face of the repression against the imprisoned artist, activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and several other Cubans. In addition, some of its members refused to continue being part of LASA.
That week, in a public statement, more than 200 writers and artists denounced the “police violence” against López and Pantoja during the arrests.
According to the account of both intellectuals, the police arrested them when they were going from Matanzas to Havana to protest. They were beaten, thrown to the floor, and forcibly put into a patrol car and taken to a police station, where they were held for hours.
López, who is co-director of CubaxCuba, has been arrested on several occasions in recent months for making symbolic protests. As a result of these actions, she was sentenced at the end of last year to pay a fine for the crime of disobedience.
The intellectual has declared herself in “contempt” of the sentence and refused to pay the fine, aware that this can lead her to jail, as she has written in different articles on social networks.
The NGO Prisoners Defenders, based in Madrid, said that the trial, “without guarantees,” had “political motivations” and sought only to “repress the exercise of the fundamental rights” of López, whom it described as a “victim of conscience.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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