Those prosecuted are accused of public disorder, instigation to commit a crime and attack
14ymedio, Havana, 17 May 2024 — The trial against the Caimanera protesters for the crimes of public disorder, instigation to commit a crime and attack began this Wednesday behind closed doors and under a strong security operation that protects the surroundings of the Municipal People’s Court of Niceto Pérez, in the Guantanamo province.
The activist and independent journalist Yeris Curbelo Aguilera tried to cover the case but was intimidated by State Security so that he would leave immediately. The reporter shared his testimony through an audio that was broadcast through the Facebook page Presos Políticos de Cuba [Cuban Political Prisoners] where he briefly chronicled the situation outside the court.
“I went to Niceto Pérez but when I arrived [there was] a tremendous police and State Security operation. As soon as they saw me get out of the car, the mobilization and more intensified, against me,” he explained. “They pounced on me, they got on top of me and the head of State Security in Caimanera, Lieutenant Colonel Giovanni Rafita, and others, told me that I could not enter the court.”
The activist and independent journalist Yeris Curbelo Aguilera tried to cover the case but was intimidated by State Security
However, a few minutes later, after being harassed and remaining in the crosshairs of the political police, they finally asked the journalist to leave under the threat of charging him with the crimes of disobedience and contempt.
The trial is taking place a year after the anti-government protests that shook the municipality, next to the United States naval base, where the protestors demanded freedom and a dignified life for the population of the area. This sparked a violent response from the regime that did not hesitate to send to the streets groups of Black Berets — as the elements of the National Special Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior are known — to repress the participants and try to limit the events to an “unusual demonstration” of a few dozen people.
This Wednesday, at the start of the process against those detained for the protests, sitting on the bench of the accused was Daniel Álvarez González, who is facing the harshest sentence with a nine-year prosecutor’s request for the crimes of “public disorder” and “instigation to commit a crime,” reported Martí Noticias.
He was followed by Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez, whom the authorities seek to imprison for six years accused of “public disorder” and “attack.” Álvarez González and Alarcón Martínez remain under precautionary prison measures at the Guantánamo Complex.
The rest of those involved in the process remained free on bail. Among them are Rodolfo Álvarez González, Freddy Sarquiz González and Felipe Octavio Correa Martínez, all three with a prosecutor’s request for six-year sentences for public disorder and attack. Completing the list is Yandris Pelier Matos, who faces four years for public disorder.
The document against the detainees, which was released by some relatives, indicates that on May 6, 2023, Daniel Álvarez González and Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez began shouting slogans such as “Down with Díaz-Canel,” “Down with the Revolution,” with signs of having consumed “alcoholic beverages” and with the aim of “promoting chaos.”
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the six accused young people maintain “reprehensible” behavior, but none of them have a criminal record
According to the official story, their calls incited other residents to accompany them, according to the Guantánamo Public Ministry, which states that they even tried to overpower law enforcement to avoid arrests. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the six accused young people maintain “reprehensible” behavior, including participating in illegal games and dog fighting, in addition to being unemployed. However, none of them have a criminal record.
“It is a closed-door trial, that is what I am aware of so far,” Victoria Martínez Valdivia, mother of two of the protesters, explained to Martí Noticias this Wednesday. One of her sons suffers from mental retardation and was still brutally beaten by police agents. “Let’s see what happens, [in court] we are the accused, three witnesses for each one and two closest relatives. The last contact I had with the lawyer, [said that] he had prepared the defense for the boys,” she added.
In the court hearing held this Wednesday, not only family members of the accused participated, but also defense witnesses, as well as some police officers and government officials, who testified against the defendants.
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