SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FDHC) included in its list of repressors to the three judges who sentenced, in early July, five participants in the peaceful demonstration in May 2023 in Caimanera, Guantánamo.
In a statement published on Tuesday, the organization said that the judges Isabel Couruneaux Perez (reporting judge), Nuliennis Herrera Alvaro (same position), and Niurka Laliebre Bolivar, of the Niceto Pérez Municipal People’s Court ,They recognized, in the judgment of the Case No. 3 of 2024that the accused were holding a peaceful demonstration, shouting “in response to complaints about electricity and food issues (…) phrases such as ‘Down with the corrupt Caimanera Government’, ‘Díaz-Canel, singao’ or ‘Homeland and Life’.”
However, knowing that it was a peaceful protest, the statement said, they sentenced the youths to eight years in prison, as in the case of Daniel Álvarez González; to seven years, as occurred with Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez; to five years, in the case of Freddy Sarquis González; to four years, with Rodolfo Álvarez González, and to two years of imprisonment in the case of Felipe Octavio Correa Martínez.
“These sanctions would be more appropriate for members of the National Special Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior or Black Berets who savagely repressed the protest participants that night, including some of those now convicted, who were merely exercising their universal right to freely demonstrate against a selfish government inconsiderate of its people,” the organization said.
The FDHC also opened a file on the Guantanamo National Revolutionary Police (PNR) officer. Leonardo Silega Leliebrefor having repressed the peaceful demonstration in Caimanera, and for having testified in the trial against three of the accused.
Accused of “attack”
The accused youths were being prosecuted for the alleged crimes of “public disorder”, “incitement to commit a crime”, “resistance” and “attack”.
The ruling states that on May 6, 2023, Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez and Daniel Álvarez González, “in a scandalous manner,” shouted “offensive phrases about the President of the Republic and local government authorities” and “caused a crowd of people on public roads” that affected the traffic of vehicles and people, “while encouraging other citizens to join in such uproar and disorder, achieving their purposes.”
According to the document, the events described “seriously violated public order to the detriment of respect for the community and the authorities of the territory and the National Revolutionary Police.”
The members of the Court also alleged that at least two of the accused began the protest allegedly while intoxicated – something that activists and relatives have denied – shouting “down with communism”, “homeland and life” and “they are starving us to death”.
A trial full of lies
The trial took place on May 17lasted eight hours and concluded around 6:00 p.m. with the courtroom and its surroundings completely militarized.
According to Victoria Martínez Valdivia, mother of two of the defendants, the witnesses who testified against the accused, including police officers and government officials, lied.
The defense argued that the defendants were exercising their right to protest. Only one of them, Daniel Álvarez González, had a criminal record: in 2020 he was fined 2,400 pesos for “contempt.” None of them had previously been sentenced to prison.
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