They demand the release of a Cuban soldier accused of espionage

American documentary filmmaker, journalist and photojournalist Bill Gentile asked the Mexican government to intercede for the release of the lieutenant colonel. CubanLuis Andrés Más Farias, who has been imprisoned on the island since December 27, 2017 for an alleged crime of espionage.

In an open letter sent to the presidentAndrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), the prestigious academic from the University of Washington requests Mexico's intervention before the Cuban government on behalf of the accused, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in a trial that, according to the defense, was marked by irregularities and violations of due process.

"I am referring to the case of my Cuban brother-in-law, Luis Andrés Más Farías, who is imprisoned in Cuba under falseespionage accusations in relation to the events that happened 20 years ago, the case of Carlos Ahumada Kurtz and the video scandals. A case that has not only represented, for you, the hardest blow in your political career, but also an incomprehensible and devastating blow for our family. Every day an injustice weighs on our lives," the letter states.

Gentile says that the ex-militaryHe was discharged in 2013 with honors and the rank of lieutenant colonel from the Ministry of the Interior (Minint) in Cuba, and in 2017, in an inexplicable twist, he was accused of an event linked to the arrest of Argentine businessman Carlos Ahumada in March 2004.

Ahumada arrived in Cuba, but had an arrest warrant in Mexico for his probable participation in a crime of generic fraud after he revealed on television videos showing people close to AMLO accepting bribes that were prepared by the opposition toweaken his political career when he was preparing as a presidential candidate for the 2006 elections.

Cuban authorities stated thatMore Farías would have warned Mexico of the businessman's arrest In the Habana.

However, Fidel Castro himself said in one of hisReflections –"The Giant of Seven Leagues"– that Ahumada was arrested on March 30, 2004 at 07:00 pm and that same night the Mexican Foreign Ministry was notified of the fact, which the next day presented an extradition request.

"He was arrested on the 30th of March. On the 31st, the Mexican Foreign Ministry presented a request for the extradition of Carlos Ahumada Kurtz to the MINREX of Cuba, due to the existence of an arrest warrant against him," Castro said.

In statements toCyberCuba, the family of the Cuban soldier assures that "he is imprisoned on false charges" and that "his health has deteriorated due to years of confinement." Likewise, despite the fact that the 63-year-old prisoner is in time to be released on conditional release, he remains detained.

Gentile has asked Miguel Díaz-Canel for his release in a letter dated January 4, alleging serious health problems that put his life at risk. However, neither his request nor the family's requests have been heard so far.

"Luis Andrés' health continues to deteriorate and the psychological toll of his years of incarceration has irreparably impacted his life. He has developed chronic ailments that irreversibly affect his health and whose consequences can be fatal," Gentile explained.

In addition, he conducted a series of interviews with Yan Vera Toste, the prestigious Cuban lawyer who participated in the defense of the accused and who explained the irregularities of the judicial process.

THE TRIAL AGAINST THE EXMILITARY:

Defense lawyer Yan Vera Toste explains in an interview with Gentile that the case began in 2017 with the intention of sanctioning Luis Andrés.

"The Prosecutor's Office began investigating based on supposed operational information and tried to give shape to that accusation, so the prosecutor notified the accused of different modifications in the accusation of the specific crime that was ultimately presented at trial. It was a process abrupt by indication of the operational order, in which we do not know the reasons why an attempt was made to punish the accused at all costs," he argued.

"There was an order to try to sanction Luis Andrés, but without a clear idea on what basis that sanction would be made, and this disorganization has manifestations in the three parts of the process: in the preparation phase, in the oral trial and in the extension of the sanction," he stressed.

Vera Toste also denounces that there was no due process, a category that contains a group of principles and guarantees that facilitate objectivity in the process against a person and in achieving justice.

"The first thing," he explains, "is that the accused signed a self-incriminating statement under conditions of duress, when due process says that guilt must be proven beyond the defendant's statement."

He affirms that the law in Cuba "continues to violate the guarantees of due process because there is no true equality between the parties, between the prosecutor and the defense. There continues to be a preponderance of the guarantees of the prosecutor and not of the accused and the defense," he commented.

"Perhaps they told him that if he incriminated himself there would be no repercussions on the family," but this shows several contradictions: "If I have evidence that a MININT official committedespionage crime"Why did you discharge him with honors and wait seven years to report an alleged crime?" questions the lawyer.

It states that "the secret operational espionage information is based on a telephone call that Luis Andrés would have made that was never incorporated into the process and on a report, of which it was never revealed who did it and it was not incorporated into the process to be able to contrast under of the principle of contradiction, present evidence to the contrary or at least submit the contradiction before the judges," he explained.

In the trial "there was also talk about a relationship with a citizen of the Special Service of Mexico who was never accredited in the process, and this person (Hector de la Garza) after this alleged espionage was revealedHe entered the country more than 26 times without having been detained, interrogated, or interviewed until now.".

"So," Vera Toste clarifies, "we have a case whereone of the parties is imprisoned andthe other was never even interviewed"he said, referring to the Mexican Héctor de la Garza.

He comments that no direct witness to the alleged events was presented at the trial. "The witnesses were all references, none were present at the events, and they only made reference to the aforementioned report that was never presented."

Another irregularity, he describes, was that the accused was accused of allegedly asking for "confidential information" to give it toHector de la Garza.

However, there are three classifications regarding the management of information controlled by the government:Confidential, secret OState secret.

"In order for someone to be accused of espionage, the information disclosed has to be consideredSecret the State Secret, no Confidential"comments the lawyer.

"The fact of 2004 contradicts the CC's own body, according to which Luis Andrés leaked information that Carlos Ahumada had been detained in Cuba, when it was the Minister of Foreign Affairs Felipe Pérez Roque himself who reported that he had made known to the Mexican government about the detention of this man who was later deported to Mexico," he argued.

For Vera Toste, the accused should have been acquitted at trial; But "how to acquit a person that the MININT has said must be declared guilty?" he questioned.

"The only evidence that the prosecutor presented was a report that we never saw. The Cuban government said that the arrest of Carlos Ahumada occurred on March 30, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. and the Mexican government was informed that same day, soWhat significance did the information that Luis Andrés supposedly provided have?"he stressed.

At the end of the interview with Gentile, the lawyer assures that "there is no evidence" to support the validity of this case, and despite this the prisoner has already served almost eight years of imprisonment.

"Luis Andrés has already served more than half of his sentence and is still in jail, which is only done with those accused in murder cases. All the requirements for his release are in place, his behavior, his conduct and his health problems. legitimize the granting of conditional release that the penal code defends," he explained.

He claims that this case "demonstratesa criminal political stance regarding people who are considered enemies" in Cuba, whether they are opponents, protesters or former soldiers; which "violates the principle of equality of a democratic society, where all citizens have the same rights before the law."

"If something demonstrates politically what a State is like, it is its procedure for judging its citizens and the way in which it judges them., and this processhas not complied with the minimum possible rule so that it can be said that we are facing an objective, multilateral and above all fair process", stated Vera Toste.