MIAMI, United States. — A sympathizer of the Cuban regime wounded Esteban Ajete Abascal, leader of the League of Independent Peasants of Cuba, with a knife, according to the victim himself informed Radio Television Martí.
The event occurred last Friday in the city of Pinar del Río, when Ajete Abascal was meeting with Irina León Valladares, Lisandra Orraca Guerra and Katia Hernández Torres, activists of the Latin American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR).
The peasant was attacked by a citizen who passed by in front of the house —located on Máximo Gómez avenue— selling fish.
“They (the activists) tell them that they are not interested in buying. Irina’s house is fenced, they are inside, and he sees that we are watching a video, and then he begins to say that he is not interested in selling fish, that his objective is really to tell him what he has to say : that they are counterrevolutionaries, that they are worms, and that if you see them on the street they will have problems, because the street belongs to the revolutionaries,” Ajete Abascal told Radio Television Martí.
For the leader of the League of Independent Peasants of Cuba, the words of the alleged seller made clear his commitment to the Cuban regime. Faced with the threat, the activist decided to go out and face the attacker, but ended up with a wound to one of his hands.
“I go out and open the gate, because I see him with the intention of continuing inside and, when I come out, he takes a blade out of his pocket and opens it. He threw the knife at me, grabbed the upper part of my hand, and at that moment I began to bleed a lot of blood, ”explained the victim.
Ajete Abascal himself maintained that, due to the seriousness of the injury, he had to be treated at the Abel Santamaría hospital, located in the provincial capital of Pinar del Río. There he received six stitches.
The activist added that he decided not to file a complaint with the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) because law enforcement officers have never taken into account the claims of human rights activists.
“We decided to leave it there, because when you go to the PNR unit they don’t pay attention to what we say, mainly because we are human rights activists,” lamented the peasant leader.
