Human rights defender returns to Cuba her home occupied, and her attacker threatening to murder her

 Sirley Ávila León is back in Cuba and her life is in danger

 Sirley Ávila León makes the sign of Liberation at Miami International Airport

On Wednesday, September 7, 2016 we reported on Sirley Ávila León's return to Cuba where she was incommunicado and unable to be reached until the following day due to blocked phones, and a delayed text message.

Marti News on September 9, 2016 reported on a phone interview with Sirley, who is currently in Las Tunas at her mother's home, news that is troubling. First, that her property had been illegally taken by the Cuban government and given to others to occupy her home.


Secondly, and more disturbing was the report that Osmany Carrión, the man who brutally attacked her on May 24, 2015 and was supposedly sentenced to six years in prison, is free and threatening to finish the job.

Sirley Ávila León pictured above while in Miami receiving care

The "job" Mr Carrión refers to is the attempted murder by machete attack of Sirley Ávila León. She lost her left hand while raising it to block a machete blow to the head that would have surely killed her wielded by Carrión. He continued the attack striking again at her head and she blocked the blow with her right arm which the machete cut deep and through the bone, breaking it. At the same time Osmany's wife grabbed the severed hand and threw it into a filthy pig pen contaminating it so that it could not be re-attached. The attack went on with further machete blows to both knees leaving her crippled. 

Osmany Carrión should have been charged with aggravated attempted murder not with the lesser charge of "bodily injury" that only sentenced him to six years in prison. This trial and sentence have been revealed to be a farce because Carrión is already free and making death threats against Sirley's life to her family. This was done in an effort to terrorize her and her family so that Sirley would not return to Cuba.

Osmany Carrión, the man who did this to Sirley in Cuba says he'll finish the job

 Sirley Ávila León was a delegate of the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power that although dissenting from government policies that harmed her constituency retained popular support despite the attempts to intimidate the electorate. This is why they have tried to get rid of her and why her life remains in danger.