Cuban Doctor Lucio Enriquez Wins Defamation Suit Against Castro Activist Ana Hurtado
14ymedio, Havana, 31 October 2024 — The Spanish courts ruled on Wednesday in favor of Cuban doctor Lucio Enríquez Nodarse in a defamation suit against Spanish journalist Ana Hurtado Martínez, a staunch supporter of the Cuban regime. The court — according to the ruling that the activist exiled in Spain also sent to 14ymedio — states that Hurtado “has committed an illegitimate interference in the right to honor” of Enríquez.
Hurtado will have to publish, “in the same media where the offensive expressions against Enríquez were published,” the content of the sentence, which – the court warned – is not yet “final” and can be appealed in the next 20 working days. The journalist will also have to pay 10,000 euros “in moral damages” as compensation to her accuser, whose legal costs will have to be covered by the defendant.
The ruling notes the statements of the plaintiff, who points out Hurtado’s “staunch defense of the Cuban communist regime” on her social media, and her history of “harassment” of activists exiled from the island.
One of the episodes mentioned in the document occurred after a peaceful protest that Enríquez and activist Avana de la Torre held in 2022 in front of the house where Ángel Castro, Fidel Castro’s father, was born. On that occasion, the journalist insulted the doctor on her social media and accused him of “serious irregularities” committed in the practice of medicine, without providing evidence. “The little drug-dealing doctor” was one of the terms she used along with “criminal, terrorist, scum, marginalized people,” and added that he could “get 3 to 6 years (in prison) for being a criminal.”
“The little drug-dealing doctor” was one of the terms she used along with “delinquent, terrorist, scum, marginalized people”
In August 2022, her accusations became more serious. “I am unmasking the drug-dealing doctor,” Hurtado wrote, “and it seems that, according to gossip, it is said and commented, that the doctor, and there is the digital footprint in the services, in the Spanish health system, is leaking clinical records, of what medication the patients take, he is leaking clinical records, oh doctor, you are a very delinquent.”
The ruling clarifies that Enríquez, who has no criminal record, was acquitted by a court following this accusation. The document also stresses that there is no accusation against the doctor for leaking medical records.
Enríquez sued Hurtado – who did not appear at the hearing – in May 2023 for these acts of defamation and insult. At the bottom of a short video that accompanied the fragment of the sentence, published on X, dozens of people celebrated the result, and Enríquez thanked them.
She also said that if Hurtado did not comply with the sentence or appeal it, he would be guilty of contempt, “and then things would get much more complicated,” she said. For the moment, the accused – who writes a column in Cubadebate and participates, albeit very discreetly, in Havana’s political life – has not commented on the outcome.
After Enríquez announced the news, Hurtado posted a tweet stating that she was “giving a presentation at the José Martí memorial” in the Havana municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, as part of a symposium dedicated to the history of the regime. “Those who doubt our permanence and victory should wait for events to unfold. They will continue to watch from a cedar box. Long live Fidel!” she said, in what could be a veiled allusion to Enríquez’s message.
The doctor and activist has a notable history of denouncing the regime’s spokesmen abroad. He has also suffered harassment and physical violence. In June 2023, the Cuban pro-government group Buena Fe said it would take legal action in Spain against those who dedicated themselves to “damaging, harming and hurting” its image. They alluded to alleged “campaigns of harassment and hate” through social networks to boycott his tour of several Spanish cities.
At that time, Enríquez Nodarse, along with fellow doctor Emilio Arteaga Pérez, claimed to have been attacked on May 11, 2023 at the Buena Fe concert in Madrid by alleged agents of the Cuban political police posing as security guards.
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