The Provincial Directorate of Health of Santiago de Cuba confirmed the arrest of two workers at the Ambrosio Grillo Portuondo Hospital, in that territory, for an alleged case of human organ trafficking.
The arrest occurred after finding both people in possession of “two hearts of possible human origin.”
The information, published by the Santiago health entity on its social networks, responds to the complaint made by a Twitter user, who had reported the arrest and conviction of a hospital worker for organ trafficking.
“Certainly, there are two workers from the reference hospital who work as Eviscerator and Occupational Therapy, arrested on December 9, 2022 for an alleged criminal act, having seized two hearts of possible human origin,” the company indicated in its response. Provincial Directorate of Health of Santiago de Cuba.
The complaint about the case had been made on Twitter by the user Yannis Estrada, who pointed out that a hospital employee, which is located near the well-known Santuario del Cobre, had been sentenced to 30 years in prison “on learning that he was extracting organs and body fat of deceased.
According to that user, that person removed the organs “to crush and sell” as food.
?? | Scary and creepy! An employee of the Ambrosio Grillo Hospital, very close to the Santuario del Cobre, was sentenced to 30 years in prison when it was learned that he was extracting organs and body fat from the deceased to crush them and sell them as mincemeat.
Developing. pic.twitter.com/XkHFL24zsb
— Yannis Estrada (@YannisEst) December 23, 2022
However, in another tweet, the same user clarifiedciting an undisclosed source, that “the quantities of removed organs would not be enough for this type of commercial sale” and pointed out that the possible purpose of the removed organs “would be to perform religious rituals.”
For its part, the note from the Health authorities does not refer to any legal conviction for the act, and indicates that those involved are “under investigation by the bodies of the National Revolutionary Police.”
It also points out that a “sector commission” was created to investigate the facts.
The event has aroused a wave of indignation and comments on social networks, in which many people ask for clarification of what happened and condemn the people involved.