- He demands that the Cuban State and its institutions urgently adopt all necessary measures to guarantee his life and personal safety.
- He demands his immediate and unconditional release.
Ariel Ruiz Urquiola, biologist, PhD in science and environmental advocate, He was tried on May 8, 2018, in a summary trial and sentenced to one year of imprisonment for an alleged crime of contempt, because he asked an Officer of the Forest Ranger Corps of the Ministry of the Interior to identify himself as a rural or field guard. His arrest and detention are arbitrary. and constitutes punishment for the legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of opinion and expression. The prosecution considered it offensive to call the officers rural guards, a term referring to a repressive force before 1959.
The 43-year-old Cuban scientist began a hunger and thirst strike on June 17th to protest the lack of legal recourse to demand his rights. He is currently in the prison ward of the Abel Santamaría Hospital in Pinar del Río. At the time of writing, authorities are refusing to provide any information about his health. He is also being denied visits from family and church representatives. His physical and mental condition is unknown.
The most basic guarantees of due process were violated in this case. The speed with which Ariel was prosecuted was incompatible with his right to a defense. He was not given a copy of the judgment as a party to the proceedings, preventing him from properly exercising his right to appeal and request a review of the case—a violation of his right to equality before the courts and to due process.
The Court of Second Instance found no merit in holding a new oral hearing and declared the appeal inadmissible, preventing the conviction and the imposed sentence from being fully reviewed, as a result of which a decision adopted with flaws and containing errors that cause undue harm to the interests of Ariel Ruiz remained firm.
The assessment of Ariel Ruiz's conduct demonstrates a lack of independence and impartiality. It is common for human rights defenders, such as this environmental activist, to be labeled by the government as common criminals and antisocial elements in order to justify undue restrictions on their human rights and fundamental freedoms, with the aim of nullifying their ability to exercise these rights on equal terms.
Prison authorities recognize the right to file complaints, but also prohibit inmates from using public figures, organizations, or institutions to file complaints, whether individually, collectively, or on behalf of a third party. The lack of effective recourse leads inmates to resort to hunger strikes, an action considered within the prison as "a demand made from a position of power" and a serious act of indiscipline, punishable by solitary confinement.
Ariel Ruiz is a biologist, holds a doctorate in science, and is an environmental advocate. He has participated in several research projects on Cuban biodiversity. He has denounced the indiscriminate and illegal hunting of songbirds, hutias, and snails for profit, as well as deforestation and the pollution of water sources. Local authorities failed to act, but the family began to suffer harassment from neighbors, who entered their property and damaged animals and crops.
In May 2016, he was expelled from the Center for Marine Research (CIM) at the University of Havana, because the authorities labeled him as "unreliable" due to his political opinions.
Together with his family, he acquired some land in Viñales, a mountainous area in the province of Pinar del Río, as a usufruct, with the idea of turning it into a self-sufficient agroecological farm using renewable energy for the production of food, electricity, biogas, organic and ecological fertilizers, which would facilitate the construction of an organoponic farm, work that he alternated with his postdoctoral studies in Germany.
In October 2018, due to his absence from the property, the authorities could revoke his usufruct rights. He and his family would lose not only the work they had previously done on the property, which would have generated long-term income, but also the livelihood of a project that benefited the community and the environment. At the time of his arrest, he was leading an international cooperation project focused on the flora and fauna of the Sierra de los Órganos. He was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
Ruiz Urquiola's family has appealed to state institutions, which are obligated to respond within 60 days, without exception for urgent cases, to prevent irreparable harm to life or physical integrity, as is the case with Ariel Ruiz. His family considers this measure extremely harsh, a form of exemplary punishment intended to force him to emigrate.
Join the campaign for the scientist's release Ariel Ruiz Urquiola. Share information about his case on your social media, write to the Cuban embassy in your country, ask your foreign minister, civil society organizations, universities, etc., to join this campaign, support us on social media, and issue a press release. Your contribution could save his life.