They still didn’t determine the place, they just knew they would meet in Mexico City on Monday, February 17. The doctor Hazael Toledo Matus, mayor of a community in Oaxaca called El Espinal, was waiting for the call that would confirm the time and place where they would meet.
They had only told him that they had good news about the project he had undertaken and that it involved discoveries in genomic medicine, a branch of science that could detect the appearance of future diseases.
But they also warned him that they could not continue on the phone: “I can’t tell you more things here, but I’ll arrive and we’ll talk”, he said, arranging the conversation.
After that nothing. His friend, the one who called him to the capital, Dr. Hector Alejandro Cabrera, also originally from El Espinal, and with whom he had shared medical research projects for more than 10 years, he never came, “I didn’t know anything and didn’t speak to him after that.”
While Hazael I waited in Mexico, the doctor Hector Alejandro Cabrera he was interrogated somewhere near the Miami airport. The reason: When he was about to leave this town he had traveled to to take his daughter to Disneyland, US government agents found pictures of a US government agent’s license plates on their phones.
These were the first tests with which U.S I would one accusation against Oaxacan scientist accused of being a “foreign agent” who did espionage work for President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
The fact is, you don’t have to worry.Alejandro Cabrera He was arrested on Sunday, February 16, 2020, and due to the coronavirus pandemic, his case remained in limbo; however, the hearing for his next trial was finally set and MILLENNIUM had access to documents proving this Cabrera you must accept your responsibility by Friday January 15 at the latest.
Despite the evidence that the government of U.S He says that 10 months after his arrest, they assured the Mexican scientist, family, friends, colleagues and people from his town that this is a medical conspiracy: a scientific prosecution.
“My theory has always been that something knew,” says Hazael Toledo harshly and dryly.
The Russian plot
On the shelves of the Southern District Court of Florida is file number 1: 20-cr-20129-DMM. On the first page of the file is an affirmation written in black pen and italics: Héctor Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes. Conspiracy to act as a foreign agent without notifying the United States government “. Translation without legal terminology: spy.
As a history of the cold war, government agents of U.S The facts say as follows: “A scientist who researched the heart in Singapore constantly traveled between Russia, where he had studied microbiology, Germany, where (he) was a consultant in a company, and Mexico, where he became a civilian. organization to promote young scientists. , in his town of El Espinal ”.
35 years old, he was married to a young woman from his village, with whom he had two children. However, the supposed hidden story was that the Mexican had also married a woman in Russia and then moved to Germany, where they stayed when Cabrera he went to work in Singapore. And that’s where the alleged espionage plan would begin.
According to the complete file he reviewed MILLENNIUM, in March 2019, while Alejandro Cabrera He was in Singapore, his wife and two daughters traveled from Germany to Russia. When they tried to return to Germany, the Russian customs officers did not let them return.
Now they assume, as there are no more details, that it was to pressure the Mexican scientist, as he was contacted from then on by a Russian official. “(The officer) told Cabrera that he could help his family get out of Russia,” one of the documents read.
From that moment on, the mission of Cabrera allegedly took photos of a vehicle owned by an agent of the government of U.S in a residential area of Miami. The scientist would not have been discreet and the North American agent noticed, so he informed authorities, who detained the national in February 2020, as he was about to board a flight to Mexico City .
Indeed, when they checked his Mexican wife’s cell phone, they found that the deleted files contained the North American agent’s plates. Cabrera he was arrested and taken to a Miami detention center.
“And what are they accusing him of and how are they accusing him of coming into a private office and taking a picture, that is, he’s very stupid, he’s a detective” Hazael, recalling the version that his friend is a Russian spy. ‘If they had given him that task, he could have engraved the plate, done it some other way, but it’s very childish, it’s a scientific conspiracy, a scientific persecution.
Trial is resuming
On October 26, 2020, it was announced that the trial is against Hector Alejandro Cabrera would be resumed since due to the pandemic of COVID-19 there were delays in all trials in the United States.
According to the latest document submitted, the Oaxacan Scientist defense has until January 15 to accept responsibility, while the jury process will resume at 9:00 AM on February 8. If convicted, he can get life imprisonment.
However, in El Espinal Oaxaca, actions have been taken for 10 months to support the funding of the researcher’s defense.
Rusbelt fonts, president of Por Oaxaca Más Investigadores, that founded Alejandro Cabrera To promote the stay of Mexican scientists in other countries, he relies on the innocence of his cousin and for a long time describes all the actions promoted by Cabrera in El Espinal.
“I started to merge everything with the dream, I had nothing, and Hector It was very important because he became a manager at the universities, he was a major player with management issues. It’s been a very strong, very big fight that we have fought. Those guys need support and they are talented youngsters ”, he says. They currently support 27 young people.
He says making an accusation is a delicate matter, but he maintains the position of the scientific prosecution against Cabrera: “I want to put it this way: two studies worldwide into heart attacks, with that work of Héctor, many people in Mexico have benefited and applied the highly award-winning method and the other research is the participation he had in FEMSA with an ointment that regenerates the skin ”.
On the Facebook page of By Oaxaca More researchers there are publications promoting the sale of mugs with a printed photo of the scientist shot in the center in a suit and tie surrounded by engravings of pink flowers and the phrase “We are with you Héctor”; In the comments, you can read statements of support from students, students, scientists and the El Espinal community in general.
Rusbelt fonts He admits that they will eventually know that the grade for a defense abroad is too expensive, but they will continue to contribute the grain of sand from El Espinal.
Guieniza Cabrera Fuentes, Héctor Alejandro’s sister notes that she cannot reveal the details of the trial, but tells them MILLENNIUM who are on hold and leave the matter in the hands of God and the attorney, because he is really in charge of the situation.
She is the only one who has seen him since he was arrested and remembers that one night before their visit the authorities ordered the closure of visitors due to a pandemic; however, she caught a glimpse of him through a small window leading to his room in the detention center and greeted him. He says they are currently resuming the process so that the Mexican scientist’s parents can get a visa and visit him.
Meanwhile, Héctor Alejandro continues to teach in the detention center and seek refuge in books while awaiting trial.
FS