Oscar Casanella is a Cuban activist and biochemist by profession, born in Havana, Cuba, on February 22, 1979.
Casanella, who was a professor at the University of Havana and an associate researcher at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiology (INOR), began to face coercion in 2013 to sever his ties of friendship with political opponents; otherwise, his labor rights would be restricted, and he was even threatened with expulsion from INOR. This expulsion ultimately occurred in June 2016 under the pretext of workplace indiscipline. That same year, he was also expelled from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Havana, where he served as an adjunct professor without receiving a salary.
Since then, the young scientist, who has unsuccessfully appealed to the Labor Justice Authority (OJL) of MEDICUBA regarding the unjust nature of his dismissal, has dedicated himself to denouncing the abuses and sanctions he has suffered from the State Security Agency and the deputy director of INOR, Lorenzo Anasagasti.
"Many Cubans find themselves in a significant ethical and personal conflict when forced to choose between their profession and their personal life and beliefs," said Casanella regarding the controversial friendship he shares with Ciro Javier Díaz Penedo, Gorki Luis Aguila Carrasco, Lia Villares, Ariel Urquiola, among others.
In August 2019, along with other professors and university students, he joined a petition to the Government through a letter urging compliance with the law and the end of discriminatory and punitive measures in the country, following the publication of a controversial text by the First Deputy Minister of Higher Education (MES), Martha del Carmen Mesa Valenciano, in which she stated that "the Cuban university professor must be a defender of our political convictions."
Casanella, through their social media, highlights the food scarcity faced by the Cuban people by posting images of the long lines Cubans endure to obtain food, as well as other events that reflect the deterioration, unsanitary conditions, and precariousness of a suffocated society demanding changes in government management.
Like other Cuban activists who are fighting for change in Cuba, he has personally suffered the repressive violence of Cuban agents. In 2019, while participating in the independent march against homophobia, he was struck in the chest and abdomen by four officers, which resulted in multiple injuries that required stitches and hospital care. He was subsequently detained.
In December 2019, while preparing to accompany the mother of Cuban biologist and activist Ariel Urquiola, he was detained by Cuban police to prevent him from going to the airport.
