Professor Pedro Albert on hunger strike after revocation of limited freedom

The Cuban professor and activist,Pedro Albert Sánchez, was declared this Tuesday inhunger strike after the revocation of the limited freedom measure imposed by the regime's courts, and the decision that he return to prison to serve a five-year sentence for exercising his right to free expression and demonstration.

Given this fact, the Observatory of Academic Freedom (OLA) issued a notice in itssocial networks, warning of the renewed repression against the activist and the danger that his decision entails, aggravated by his age (67 years) and his medical condition as a prostate cancer patient, diagnosed in 2018.

“The Academic Freedom Observatory issues an Alarm following the news that Pfr. Pedro Albert Sánchez has decided to start a hunger strike upon learning that he will have to comply with the sentence initially handed down of 5 years in prison with confinement, without taking into account the twelve months that he already spent in prison and annulling the substitution due to 'limitation of freedom '”, OLA indicated on Facebook.

Likewise, OLA urged “urgent solidarity and mediation by international bodies to intercede for the teacher at risk,” and noted that “he is a retired pedagogue with a delicate medical condition due to an oncological pathology.”

“In Cuba there are teachers in prison,” the Observatory stated in a label that accompanied the social media message.

At the end of January, Albert Sánchez wassentenced to five years of limitation of freedom by the Popular Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre for his participation with other protesters in the protests of July 11, 2021.

The sentence, sent toCyberCuba, sanctioned Albert Sánchez for the alleged crimes of public disorder and contempt, to "five years of deprivation of liberty, replaced by limitation of freedom in the same period", a sentence that must be served "under the control and influence of the executing judge."

Imprisoned for a year in the Valle Grande prison awaiting trial, the Cuban teacher tried to attract the attention of the international communitywith several hunger strikes that deteriorated his health and that they forced him to be transferred to the prison infirmary to receive medical attention.

At the end of November, Albert Sánchez wrote a letter to the Rapporteur for Human Rights of theEuropean Union (EU), Eamon Gilmore, in which he begged him to visit the regime's political prisoners during his visit to the Island.

In his letter, the activist testified to the systematic violation of the human rights and political freedoms of Cubans.

“By this means I make known to you my deepest conviction thatIn Cuba, the most basic rights of citizens are systematically violated to express their disagreements with the current totalitarian regime that governs the destinies of the Cuban Nation in a militarized manner,” Albert Sánchez began by saying in his letter.

In addition to this, the political prisoner referred to the persecution suffered by dissidents, opponents, independent journalists and activists, who are not allowed to "exercise the right to peaceful meetings or demonstrations."

After his complaint was made public, theState Security He was detained on November 22 and kept isolated and incommunicado in the Vivac de Calabazar detention center, in Havana, wherewent on hunger strike again. Cuban civil society activists demanded his immediate release.

However, the totalitarian Cuban regime has once again decided to imprison the brave and illustrious activist, in a gesture that once again denotes the repressive nature and state terrorism that prevails under the government of the so-called "continuity."

Albert Sánchez taught classes at the "Federico Engels" Vocational School in Pinar del Río. In December 2020, he announced a walk in Havana and criticized the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel for repressing its citizens, especially after the peaceful sit-in on November 27.

With several hunger strikes as his only means of protest, the Cuban activist's health becomes increasingly weaker, while his convictions and his will to continue demonstrating grow stronger.

In a letter, to which he had accessMartí News, the professor wrote: "In times of revolution, revolutionaries generally go to prison, exile or death, I chose death rather than an obedient prison; I apologize to my loved ones and other people who suffer because of my choice but it is the "the only option they have left me to defend my dignity."