HAVANA, Cuba.- Officials of the Miguel Enríquez Faculty, part of the University of Medical Sciences of Havana, said goodbye on Tuesday to the Cuban anthropologist and historian Jenny Pantoja Torresas the academic told CubaNet.
“The dean, Natascha Mezquia de Pedro, decided in a meeting to dispense with my services under the pretext that there are too few students and too many professors in the department,” he explained.
Pantoja had been working at the institution since April as a professor of Cuban History and Political Culture. Although she was on probation, her performance had been satisfactory and weeks before her immediate boss had assured her that her services would not be laid off.
“It was said without discussion and without anything else. I expected it, but I also expected more empathetic attitudes from my colleagues. Instead, everything was very cold,” he said.
“With the need for teachers, how can they say that there is no need for teachers here? If they wanted to avoid firing me, they could have put me in other positions or sent me, for example, to provide a service in another place or, simply, see internally if they might need me at the University level or in another Faculty,” he added.
He June 18th lastJenny Pantoja was violently detained along with the teacher Alina Barbara LopezBoth were heading from the city of Matanzas to Havana to carry out a peaceful protest with the aim of demanding changes in the government structure in Cuba and the release of political prisoners.
After her arrest, she was charged with “attack” and was placed under house arrest. Shortly afterwards, she reported that State Security officer Ariel Arnau Guillot, alias “Major Luisito,” had warned her that she would be expelled from her workplace.
He later learned, through his coworkers, that the officers had attended the Faculty where he worked.
“They asked for reports on my work and said they had to expel me. This caused quite a stir at the Faculty. The dean asked my boss for a report and my boss gave an impeccable report, saying that I was a very good teacher, that I was excellent. Later I found out, from other people, that they had met with all the ‘factors’ and that everyone had given very good opinions,” she said.
Over the past month, Pantoja Torres has been under constant surveillance and has been placed under arrest on at least four occasions. Police posts at the exit of his home to prevent him from going out into the streetOne of them was during the days commemorating the third anniversary of 11J, the others occurred last week with the aim of preventing him from carrying out the peaceful protest that he carries out every 18th with Alina Bárbara López Hernández.
In addition to losing her job, the expulsion will prevent the professor from completing her doctorate, since in order to do so, she must be associated with a state institution and perform functions related to the field of study of the doctorate.
Jenny Pantoja, however, is optimistic. “One door closes and two open, that always happens. I have always said that God will provide, and God provides,” she said.
In a recent interview with CubaNetthe academic assured that he would not give in to pressure from State Security because “it is the life of the nation that is at stake.”
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