Lazaro Yuri Valle Roca

• Name: Maykel Castillo Perez
• Position: Journalist, opposition activist
• Deprived of liberty from: June 15, 2021
• Judgment: 5 years of imprisonment
• Country: Cuba
• Place of confinement: Combinado del Este Prison
• Health condition: Severe health conditions
• Torture complaint: Subject to torture and inhumane prison conditions

Lazaro Yuri Valle Roca is a journalist. Director of the digital media Delibera. Married to Eralidis Frometa, member of the organization “Damas de Blanco”.

On June 15, 2021, the activist was arrested and taken to the “Zapata y C” police unit, in Vedado, and then transferred to Villa Marista, the regime’s political police headquarters, where he experienced kidney failure.

He was sentenced to 5 years in prison for resistance and alleged enemy propaganda for having reported how Cuban activists launched leaflets against the regime in Havana.

Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca has been the victim of mistreatment and deterioration of his health, in prison, where he has even been denied medical assistance to overcome diseases. His wife denounced a few days ago that Yuri has had a kind of tumor between the nape of the neck and the brain. According to the information, the political prisoner has only been given some antibiotics, however, so far, as usual, he has not received medical attention from the prison authorities.

In June 2022, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists called on the Cuban authorities to withdraw all criminal charges filed against him, and to release him.

The IAPA has just condemned his arrest, saying that the Cuban regime has resorted to internet control, police summons, imprisonment and exile for journalists on the island.

Observations

Óscar Rafael de Jesús Arias Sánchez is a Costa Rican lawyer, economist, political scientist and businessman. He assumed as president of the Republic of Costa Rica in 2 terms: 1986-1990 and 2006-2010.

He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for participating in the peace processes in the armed conflicts of Central America in the 1980s, especially for his opposition to American support in the Nicaraguan conflict of the contras.

He studied Law and Economics at the University of Costa Rica. His graduation thesis for the Bachelor of Economics from that university, “Press Groups in Costa Rica,” earned him the National Essay Prize in 1971.

After obtaining the degree, he decided to move to the United Kingdom, where in 1967 he obtained a master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Essex. There he presented his thesis “A study on formal leadership in Costa Rica,” his first essay on politics. In 1974, he received a Doctorate in Political Science at the University.

He returned to Costa Rica in 1969 and began working as a professor of Political Science at the University of Costa Rica.