Two cows confiscated from a Cuban couple for taking them to graze next to Lenin Park

Carlos Díaz and Joelkis Díaz are a Cuban couple, they are both 58 years old and have just sufferedthe seizure of two cows that they had for 25 years, by the Agriculture delegate in Boyeros, Yisel Rodríguez. It happened on Thursday, March 7, in the Las Cañas neighborhood of that municipality, when the father of the family was surprised with the two animals on land adjacent to Lenin Park and which are usually used by residents of the area for grazing, due to to the scarcity of food, to the fact that the lands are not fenced and to the fact thatThe leisure facilities in the vicinity are completely abandoned.

Apart from the confiscation, Carlos Díaz was fined 20,000 Cuban pesos because the cows were skinny and, in addition, they did not have the identification clip, which he removed from both for fear that they would be lost and this would cause a bigger problem. Although he told the Agriculture delegate to let him go home to look for the clips, they did not allow him. They summoned him to a commission that was held the day after the seizure and in which it was firmly decided to take away the animals that he had bought a quarter of a century ago, without allowing him to defend himself, intervene or, in short, speak at that meeting. Neither the Police nor the courts participated in such a drastic decision.

Their daughter, Yayna Díaz, is an American citizen, lives in Hialeah (Miami) and has spoken withCyberCuba about the injustice that has been committed against his parents, who, being elderly, had cows not only as sustenance, but also as an important part of both of their daily routines.

"The animals have been part of the family for 25 years. They have never had problems. In the area everyone has cows, goats, in short, everyone has animals and there have always been problems feeding them. That's why people approaches the vicinity of Lenin Park, with the animals tied with ropes, to avoid traffic on the highway," explains Yayna Díaz, in statements to CiberCuba.

She understands that her father was fined for taking the animals to graze next to Lenin Park, but she does not admit that a measure as radical as the confiscation of the animals is applied to him.

"That lady, Yisel Rodríguez, appeared with two other people as witnesses, clarifying that my father could not be in that area grazing. At that moment he was not alone. There were more people in his same situation, but only he was fined. and only he had the animals confiscated," adds the daughter.

In addition to alleging that the animals were skinny, the Agriculture delegate used as an excuse that Yayna Díaz's father had written a letter abandoning the cows. No matter how much Carlos Díaz demanded that he be shown that role, they never showed it to him. "He claims it is totally false."

It so happens that Las Cañas is a peripheral neighborhood of Boyeros in which irregularities much greater than taking cows to graze in Lenin Park are usually committed, but on March 7 they applied a severe sanction to Yayna Díaz's father, according to his own testimony.

"For my parents, those cows were very important. They have taken half of their bodies. They have confiscated the animals without giving them the opportunity to complain anywhere," added the young woman.

"In Cuba there is terrible corruption. They are not given the option to defend themselves. My father called me and I started to cry. Cuba is doubly bad. Everything is based on money and corruption and they do this to people who have been working all their lives. his life," says his daughter.

On the same day that Carlos Díaz's cows were confiscated, CiberCuba published images that attest to the high degree of deterioration that Lenin Park is experiencing due to the neglect of the State, which is the owner of facilities that represent one of the few leisure options. What is there for children in Havana.According to a video that spread like wildfire on social media, the attractions are rusty and stopped and everything is completely overgrown with weeds.

This is not the first time that the Cuban Government has pulled out laws that are not supported in any democratic country. In July 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture notified the Isla de la Juventud farmer Osniel Fernández that the livestock and land that the family had owned since before 1959 became state property under decree Law 125/91, signed in his day by Fidel Castro.As they explained to him, they took them away for not cultivating them.

Legal uncertainty is one of the reasons why foreign investments never took off strongly on the Island and also explains why the primary sector is not even enough for self-sufficiency.