According to several reports, there could have been a homophobic component in the crime, “given the viciousness with which” the young woman was attacked.
Miami, United States. – The journalist Enrique Pérez Fumero remains hospitalized in a critical condition after having been the victim of a violent beating in the early hours of Sunday at the intersection of Barnada and San Mateo streets, in Santiago de Cuba. The aggression, which would have happened during an attempted robbery, has caused a wave of complaints about the growing insecurity on the island.
Pérez Fumero, who is also a university professor and works at the official CMKC station, is admitted to the neurosurgery room of the General Hospital “Saturnino Lora”, with a fracture of the skull base, multiple facial fractures and severe cranial trauma.
According to reported The independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, “barely breathes, can barely speak, but still alive.”
The attackers would have stolen a couple of Converse brand shoes, a phone and a wallet. However, the violence exerted has been qualified by the relatives of the journalist as a possible “attempted murder with hate”, pointing out that there could have been a homophobic component “given the viciousness with which it was attacked.”
Despite the seriousness of the incident, the official media and the state institutions for which the victim worked have not issued public statements. “And what have the means for those who delivered years of work and commitment have said? Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” said Mayeta Labrada.
Until the day after the aggression, no officer of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) had visited Pérez Fumero. It was only after a citizen management that contacted the police leadership, which resulted in the sending of several officers to the hospital. These took the victim’s clothing for smell tests, in an attempt to locate the aggressors.
On the other hand, a neurologist who attends the patient confirmed that “in Santiago there are no functional imaging teams”, so the medical staff is working “blind, waiting for the swelling to lower the pupils to evaluate the pupils.”
Some official media journalists began to rule on social networks. The reporter Daylyn Herrera Bayard wrote: “You are not alone, Enrique. We are with you. We love you. We need you.” In his publication, he also expressed indignation and demanded justice: “I want the culprit to pay for this monstrous act, for this brutal blow that has left us all with a broken soul.”
For his part, the journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso, also from official media, shared the publication of Herrera Bayard with The message: “That the culprits of this crime pay with all the weight that the fact entails. A lot of strength for our colleague and solidarity with their family, friends and students.”
Meanwhile, Mayeta Labrada demanded that the authorities “immediate, public and transparent investigation into this criminal act”, as well as the arrest of the aggressors and the dissemination of the case in the official media. “Violence cannot continue reigning on the streets as if it were part of the landscape. You have to stop it. And that stop has to be now,” he ended.
