Why I have to go on hunger strike My name is Santiago Mora and I am a professor at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Today - as a victim of the law - I am forced to start a hunger strike. I married Claudia Rocha in 1986 in Bogotá, Colombia, and later moved to Canada with three children of ours. In 2008, at my wife’s request, we arranged for a legal separation and a divorce in Colombia. In December 2008, Claudia left the family home in Fredericton for good. She also accepted money representing an equal division of our assets, in conformity with the separation agreement, along with an agreement that frees her from any monetary responsibility with our children; this agreement further stipulates that there would be no demands of alimony between us. At that time, the divorce was not signed, and she also refused to sign it at the later date. Soon after her departure, Claudia abandoned her old business, Cocuy, and began working for the government of the province of New Brunswick. Judging by the purchase of a house and a car, she was financially successful. In 2012, Claudia, immediately after having lost her job with the government of the province of New Brunswick, filed a lawsuit against me, ignoring the separation agreement from Colombia, as well as the payments she had already received based on that agreement. In October 2013, the New Brunswick court ordered that 63% of my salary should be delivered to Claudia Rocha to ensure her maintenance, and another 20% to her attorney. As I can no longer afford to pay mortgage, the alienation of 83% of my salary forces me to put on sale the house where I live with my daughter. It also forces me to live on approximately $800 per month, from which I have to pay $375 for the room of my youngest son, who is attending university out of town. It is incredible that after working all my life I was without a trial imposed by court a condition under which I cannot pay for my basic needs, let alone hire a lawyer to defend myself. For these reasons, I am forced to engage in the only act left for me, an act of peaceful protest I had never imagined to be compelled to do in a society that boasts of respecting other cultures and strongly supports human rights all over the world.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 14:14:16 +0000
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