Murder of Spaniard in Brazil may be linked to environment crimes

The body of 49-year-old Spaniard, Gonzalo Alonso Hernández, was found on Tuesday night in a park near his home in Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil, where he has been living for the past 10 years with his wife.

According to authorities, he was shot several times in the head.

Alonso Hernández had reportedly denounced alleged crimes against the local environment, relating to hunting and burning of land in the Cunhambebe natural park where he lived. 

48-year-old María de Lurdes Pena Campos, Alonso Hernández’s widow, works in Rio and returns home on the weekends.

She confirmed that her husband was constantly complaining about illegal hunting in the park and the fires started by ranchers.

Initial investigations show that Alonso Hernández, a biologist, was executed at his home and that his body was later dumped in the waterfall in the natural park.

According to police, a computer is missing from Alonso Hernández’s home and his power and telephone lines had been cut.

His wife told the media that he never received any explicit threats, although one time someone flew in a threatening way over the home in a helicopter. She added that her husband had no enemies other than the people he denounced to authorities.

The Spanish consulate in Rio advised that Alonso Hernández had moved to Brazil after he was offered a position with Telefónica.

His funeral will be held on Saturday and his wife said that "his remains will stay here, with nature."

When asked her plans for the future, she said, "I don't know yet what I will do," but stressed that the fight must continue for the environment, adding "We will not be silent."

To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/356132

Spain's loss is Harvard's gain as scientist is offered position

After working for 18 months without pay at Jaén University in Andalucía, Spain, a Spanish researcher has landed a job at Harvard's prestigious medical school.

Thanks to an agreement between both universities, Leticia Díaz Beltrán was snapped up by Harvard’s Computational Biology Department over a month ago and they are happy to have her.

Díaz was doing a PhD on genetics and autism, but is one of many Spanish scientists who have suffered from the cuts in Spain's research and development (R+D). 

 

Díaz has labeled the future of scientific investigation in Spain as “devastating,” stating that she has received no funds since starting her doctorate in January 2012.

 

She told the Spanish newspaper, El País via email:

"It's frustrating that the Spanish state spends money on our training, only for other countries to later reap the rewards. It doesn't make any sense."
"Making cutbacks in R&D is the worst thing you can do at a time of crisis; the logical thing to do is invest in knowledge, science, technology and innovation to increase productivity and export values. To incentivize R&D in universities, centers of investigation and companies is primordial right now." 

Díaz says that the only way she can progress with her work into autoimmune diseases and their relationship with autism genes, is to do this out of her home country.  

Díaz's contract at Harvard is for one year, on a monthly salary of 2,200 euros and despite this, she is keen to return home once her contract is up. However, she doesn't have much optimism for the future in Spain, saying: 

"The situation for R&D in Spain is demoralizing. I would like to go back to my university and open new lines of investigation and put into practice everything I'm learning here, but it all depends on the opportunities available - I hope the situation changes. If not, I'll have to think about going abroad again." 

Explaining her research, Díaz said:

"Basically, from the molecular point of view, we are searching for the genes that are implicated in autism and their relation with other auto-immune diseases, with the aim of detecting possible therapeutic and pharmaceutical applications, above all for an early intervention for the illness."

As yet another victim of Spain's research crisis, which has taken the jobs of 10 per cent of Spanish scientists in the official research centres (CSIC) in the last 18 months due to drastic government spending cuts, Díaz will likely be one of many scientists taking the drastic step of leaving Spain.

Díaz's department professor at the University of Jaén, Francisco Esteban, is proud of his pupil's move to such a prestigious university, saying:

"It represents a huge slice of recognition and a very important advance in the investigations she is carrying out."

To the source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/356129