MIAMI, United States. — A Guantanamo family based in the Ho Chi Minh community, a peripheral neighborhood of the provincial capital of Guantánamo, denounced having been repressed by the police of that territory at the beginning of the current month, a fact that led to the arrest and subsequent accusation against Lenier Ricardo del Río, better known as “Pocho”.
The case became famous days after the demonstrations in Caimanera, when the police detained the 16-year-old Leandro Ricardo Rodríguez, alias “Bebé”, a minor whom the police arrested for allegedly being responsible for a case of theft and sacrifice of older cattle.
“That day, José, the head of the sector, accused me of something I did not do, for theft and sacrifice, and my father came to my defense. When he saw that they put me in the little machine (patrol) he did not want to and the police officers violently attacked him and broke his eyebrow, ”the young man told the independent reporter Niober García Fournier.
According to the young man’s testimony, they were taken to park 24 and from there for operations. Although he was released after four days, his father is still being held on charges of assault.
“He didn’t throw a punch. He only went to defend me, in the video he appears, because he did not want them to take me for operations, because he knows that I have nothing to do with it, ”he indicated.
Ester Rodríguez, sister-in-law of Lenier Ricardo del Río, confirmed the accusation of attack against her relative and revealed that the authorities are asking for 10,000 pesos of bail.
“They are asking him for 10,000 bail and of course we are not going to pay that because he has nothing to do with it. The one who has to pay the bail is the head of the sector, José, who was the one who caused this situation, ”said the woman.
The facts were confirmed by a neighbor of Lenier Ricardo del Río who witnessed the beating.
“The guards are abusers. I didn’t want to believe it. For pleasure they beat that man. He only asked why they were taking his son. One held him and the other hit him. They are cheeky.”
“Pocho’s” sister-in-law added that the neighbors have mobilized to testify in favor of the defendant, whom she described as “a hard-working man who doesn’t mess with anyone.”
