Sirley Avila’s New Battle

Sirley Avila's New Battle /14ymedio

14ymedio, 10 September 2016 — Shortly after returning to Cuba on
September 7, the activist Sirley Ávila learned that her house, located
on a farm in Las Tunas province, had been occupied by another
family. "This house was a 'basic medium' and it has been given to us,"
the new inhabitant of the property told her when Avila reclaimed his
home. The former People's Power delegate for the 37th District in the
Majibacoa municipality began her activism to denounce the closure of a
school in her locality. Today she is a member of the opposition group
Republican Party of Cuba.

The dissident stayed in the United States for six months, where she
received treatment for the physical scars left by a violent machete
attack – in which she lost a hand, among other injuries – which she
attributes to Cuban State Security, which determined to punish her in
this way for her political activism.

Avila explains that her attacker has been released and is proclaiming
that he now has the opportunity to finish his "unfinished work."

In a telephone conversation with 14ymedio, Ávila reports that although
the land belonged to the Institute of Hydraulic Resources, being near a
dam, she built her house in 2011 with her own resources and with the
permission of the Institute for Physical Planning.

"On leaving for the United States I did the paperwork required to
transfer ownership to my son, but when he went to get the papers he was
told that the record did not appear," she says. In her opinion, the
authorities are intending, with this decision, to start "a judicial
process that can take years" so that she will decide to stop living in
Cuba and finally emigrate.

This coming Monday Sirley Ávila will file a legal claim in the housing
offices in the province of Las Tunas.

Source: Sirley Avila's New Battle /14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/sirley-avilas-new-battle-14ymedio/