It is the second time in eight months that the association has spoken out in support of the teacher
EFE/14ymedio, Havana, July 5, 2024 — On Thursday, more than 50 academics from the Association of Latin American Studies (LASA) urged the executive committee of that group to publicly condemn the “political repression” in Cuba after the allegations of police violence against the critical intellectuals Alina Bárbara López and Jenny Pantoja. It would be the second time that the Association, historically considered favorable to the Cuban regime, has raised its voice for the professor.
Among the signatories are Mexican professors and researchers Alejandro Monsiváis and Carlos Torrealba, the Cuban American economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago, the Brazilian sociologist María Hermínia Tavares, the Cuban economists Omar Everleny, Pavel Vidal and Pedro Monreal, as well as the historian Rafael Rojas, brother of the former Cuban Deputy Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas.
The text, advanced by the independent website CubaXCuba (CXC), calls for LASA’s condemnation of “the political repression in Cuba, intensified during the last year and increased,” against López, historian, editor and member of the group, and against the anthropologist Pantoja.
Among the signatories are Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Omar Everleny, Pavel Vidal and Pedro Monreal, as well as the historian Rafael Rojas
Regarding López’s case, subscribers point out that since October 2022, “she has suffered persecution and various violations of her rights to free movement, thought and expression, among others.
In addition, they say that the renowned academic “has been a victim of practices that qualify as torture, and cruel, inhumane and harmful treatment to human dignity. Just for writing, expressing her critical ideas about Cuban reality and civic formation, and demonstrating peacefully.”
In a recounting of the situations that the 58-year-old historian has confronted with the local authorities, the last two refer to physical aggre
