If I must die / You must live / To tell my story …

If I must die / You must live / To tell my story …

These are the first three verses of a poem written by Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian professor assassinated by Israel on Dec. 6, 2023.

Yesterday, I learned of the assassination by medical neglect, if not direct torture (we will learn this in the future, I hope) of Chilean-American journalist Gonzalo Lira in a prison in Ukraine.

Julian Assange is yet another example of a journalist who is agonizing in Belmarsh, a British high-security prison, for the sin of letting the world know of crimes against humanity committed by the USA. USA is asking for Julian to be extradited to the USA and incarcerate him for 175 years. There was a plot by the CIA to assassinate Julian Assange, but they were caught.

Journalists, real ones, not the ones who repeat the lies of the mass media ad nauseam, are in danger of extinction. Since Oct. 7, Israel has killed 117 Palestinian journalists, so it is obvious that Israel is trying to bury the truth.

Another example, and in his case not so well-known, is the case of journalist Pablo Gonzalez. His grandfather was a child refugee. One of many Basque children whose lives were spared by Russia, giving them refuge in Moscow when Fascist Franco bombarded their Basque towns (like Gernika, Durango, etc.) during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Three generations later, Pablo Gonzalez was born in Moscow, although as a 10-year-old, his mother took him back to Spain. He later on in life became a freelance journalist.

He was on his way to Ukraine to work as a journalist when, on Feb. 28, he was detained by Polish authorities and incarcerated without formal charges but outrageous accusations of being a Russian spy. One of the accusations is that he speaks several languages, Russian and Spanish being two of them. Apparently, speaking several languages can become a hazard in a world of ignorance.

Pablo Gonzalez’s requests for warm clothing (this is the second winter in a freezing cell), being able to talk to his children via Zoom, etc., have been consistently denied. He has three little children, and the youngest of them is having psychological issues due to not being able to comprehend what happened to his dad.

His family started a petition on Change.org asking to respect his rights as a journalist: “Respeten los derechos del periodista Pablo Gonzalez, detenido en Polonia el 28 de febrero.” 

And this is his address in the Polish prison: Pablo Gonzalez Yagües // Alexia // AS Radom // UL. Wolanowska 120 // 26600 Radom // Poland.

In the hope that more people knowing Pablo Gonzalez’s unjust incarceration will spare his life and wishing for a world in which we care to know the truth,

Iña Martinez