The trial will be held in the Matanzas Municipal Court after a long delay.
MADRID, Spain.- The Municipal Court of Matanzas set for this Friday, January 30 at 9:00 in the morning the oral trial against the historian Alina Bárbara López Hernández and the anthropologist Jenny Pantoja, accused in a process that both describe as politically motivated and fabricated by State Security bodies.
According to a publication carried out this week by López Hernández on his social networks, the case dates back to June 18, 2024, when both were charged with what they describe as “false crimes fabricated by the police, who were thereby complying with an orientation from the Counterintelligence bodies.”
The intellectual explained that the process has been marked by prolonged delays both in the Prosecutor’s Office and in the court, and that only the pressure exerted by the accused themselves allowed the file to move forward. According to his testimony, the delay did not respond to privileged treatment, but rather to the political impact that would entail bringing to trial two figures with academic and social visibility inside and outside the Island.
“It was impossible to delay it any longer,” he said, confirming that the hearing was finally designated as “oral and public (although the latter is never respected).”
López Hernández denounces that the process is part of a strategy of intimidation against the exercise of citizen rights. “This trial is another of the farces with which an exclusive political system tries to frighten citizens to prevent the exercise of their rights. They will not succeed,” he stated.
Both she and Pantoja have made it clear that they will not accept a sentence or conditional negotiations. “None of us will accept any other ruling than total exoneration. We will not negotiate our freedom in exchange for silence. Our dignity is worth more than their threats, and even the real possibility of going to prison,” she warned.
In her statement, the historian also stressed that in the Cuban judicial system, decisions respond to political structures and not to guarantees of independence. “In a judicial process in Cuba, justice should never be expected, all decisions are handled by the political police,” he wrote, although he announced that the political cost of the case will fall mainly on those who promote it.
Finally, López Hernández appealed to the public responsibility of the intellectual sector in the face of what he considers a new episode of criminalization of critical thinking. “The civic responsibility of the Cuban intelligentsia will also be at stake,” he expressed, while warning about the risk of indifference in the face of the advance of repression.
Because of their activism, in recent years Alina Bárbara and Jenny Pantoja have been constantly subjected to harassment, repression, imprisonment and threats.
