The family of Roldy Polo Pérez, the musician who died this Tuesday in BaracoaGuantánamo, due to shots fired by an officer of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), denounced being harassed for expressing her indignation at the murder.
“Now they are looking for us as opponents, they summon us, they continue to threaten us,” shouted the victim’s brother, Rafael, before more than a hundred people gathered at the Baracoa cemetery for the artist’s funeral. “Why? Because we discuss our rights, because we are hurt by the injustice that has been done to our brother.”
The man reiterated his lament, between muffled tears and shouts of support from the crowd: “Now they say that we are opponents. We are hurt people, we are hurt people! It hurts us that they took the life of our brother”.
“What do I tell your children?” the relative continued. “What did they tell you? That he fell off a horse, for not telling him that a coward killed him.” Who takes care of those children now? What do I tell your eight-year-old boy, who now grows up with that hatred in his blood, in his head? Now those children have a trauma because a coward took their life.”
In his harangue there was also a complaint: that it was not the first time that the officer who shot his brother killed a person: “He took a life in Havana and they brought him for transfer to Baracoa. A few months ago arrangement brother-in-law with a drunk gun,” he said. “Every time he gets out of bed, he starts shooting into the air. Yesterday was not enough for him: he fired a shot at his house, he fired a shot at the Vega Larga bridge and when he reached my brother’s goal, he shot him at his house.” A voice interjected among the people, then: “He is defenseless.”
“We want justice,” the choir also repeated, while behind the victim’s brother an employee of the House of Culture is seen making a gesture to silence the people
Polo Pérez’s brother spoke loudly that the authorities themselves told him that they knew that the policeman “is corrupt.” “And why did they have it there?”, cried the man. “What was Counterintelligence doing, that it had that man dressed as a policeman, patrolling the streets, where honorable people walk? What happened to Martí’s principles? That he wanted a homeland of the humble and for the humble.”
And he concluded his heated exposition: “Keep saying that I am an opponent who was in the shadows. I am a hurt brother,” to which another man replied: “And I would like to be too.”
In the transfer of the coffin to the cemetery, the mourners passed through the local House of Culture, where the musician worked. There, his brother shouted “long live Roldy, down with the Minint, down with all the communists,” which were widely repeated by the crowd. “This bastard from the Minint killed me,” cried Rafael.
“We want justice,” the choir also repeated, while behind the victim’s brother an employee of the House of Culture is seen making a gesture to silence the people.
Relatives had told networks that Polo Pérez, 45, was shot in the abdomen by the officer, at the door of his house, in Vega Larga, on the same day as his birthday. The name and photo of the alleged murderer immediately circulated among the singer’s acquaintances.
After the news appeared in independent media, this Wednesday, the Ministry of the Interior issued a statement explaining that the agent killed the musician after holding “a heated discussion due to personal problems and under the influence of ingesting alcoholic beverages” and that he had already been detained. In addition, he pointed out that he was not on duty at the time of the event.
However, friends and acquaintances of the victim dispute the official account. “What I don’t understand is how, if the guard was off duty, he had a gun with him,” was one Facebook comment, along with others like: “Who told you that a policeman who is not on duty arms carrier service? They pick them up and it is not the first time this has happened in Cuba”.
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