They Took Everything from Me, My Entire Life

Dear judges of this honorable Court: I have been a human rights defender for over 20 years. I would like to express my deep gratitude for the granting of provisional measures during my time in prison. Although the dictatorship did not comply with your recommendations, these measures gave me a light of hope and the feeling of not being alone, knowing that outside there were organizations, people, and institutions fighting for my freedom.

I was arbitrarily imprisoned, and then the dictatorship replaced the prison with exile, statelessness, and the confiscation of my retirement pension, my home, and my civil rights, which has impacted my life even more severely as an older adult who turns 66 this month. In summary, they took everything from me. My entire life.

While prison was a terrible experience, exile is profoundly painful. They have torn me away from my home, my family, my friends, and my homeland, leaving an overwhelming sense of uprootedness. The impacts of the political persecution against me have transcended to my family, who are also in exile, thus changing our entire life dynamic.

During these two long years, I have had to process this new and harsh reality while facing the day-to- day. During my time in prison, my kidney disease progressed from stage 2 to stage 4, as well as other chronic ailments, significantly deteriorating my health, facing greater mobility issues and joint pain, diminishing my quality of life.

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Currently, I have had to migrate from the country that welcomed me after my exile, and now I am seeking asylum in Costa Rica in the hope of obtaining refuge. I am looking for some stability by reuniting with part of my family, but since I do not have my retirement pension, at my age, I am seeking employment, although I have not yet found it. But I continue in that struggle.

Despite the suffering and harshness of exile, I continue to trust in God to give me the strength to keep being resilient and resisting. I have had to undergo psychological therapy to cope with the damage caused by all these situations in every area of my life. They took away my right to have rights in my country, but they have not silenced or broken me. I remain a human rights defender, fighting for freedom, truth, and justice.

Thank you very much.

This article was originally published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated by Havana Times. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.