The daughters of the highest-ranking Cuban soldier killed in Venezuela live in the United States.

MIAMI, United States. – Journalist Mario Pentón stated this Wednesday that two daughters of Colonel of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) Humberto Alfonso Roca Sánchez, the highest-ranking Cuban soldier killed in Venezuela on January 3, reside in the United States and have traveled to Cuba, according to testimonies from “family sources” consulted after the public disclosure of the names of Cubans killed in that country.

In the broadcast, Pentón maintained that the Cuban regime would not have published those names “of its own volition,” but rather because of “public pressure,” and stated that, based on that list, the journalistic team contacted relatives of those killed. “What they tell is devastating,” he said, referring to stories that he described as a lack of “decent working conditions,” absence of relief, precariousness and alleged treatment of families “as simple props.” He also pointed out that, according to those relatives, some of those sent to Venezuela “did not go to Venezuela out of ideology, but to escape hunger in Cuba.”

Pentón presented that of Roca Sánchez as an emblematic case and linked it to Nicolás Maduro’s security circle. “We have confirmed that the daughters of the highest-ranking Cuban soldier killed in Venezuela live in the United States,” he said. Later, when commenting on the presence of the daughters in the United States, he added: “So far they have not responded to a request for comments from Martí News”.

For his part, Luis Domínguez, researcher at the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, assured in the same broadcast that he had been following Roca Sánchez’s trail “for years” and described him as a man dedicated for decades to personal security work in Cuba.

“He was the head of Department 16, the garrison of Zero Pointthat is, where Fidel Castro lived,” he stated. Domínguez also said that Roca Sánchez would have spent “probably around 20 years” in that environment and associated it with spaces reserved for the elite of the MININT.

In the interview, Domínguez noted that the colonel “lived in Punto Cero itself.”

Regarding the colonel’s daughters, Domínguez stated that the minor lives in New Jersey and would have arrived in the United States in 2014. Pentón, for his part, said that “family sources” assured him that the other daughter arrived in the country “in December 2022”, “applied for asylum” and is a “permanent resident.” According to the journalist, the young woman would have entered “through the United States border like another Cuban, asking for asylum.” Both would have traveled to Cuba after settling in the North American country, according to Pentón.

In the final section, Pentón insisted that, according to relatives, some of the Cubans killed in Venezuela “did not have (…) the necessary preparation” and were “in search of money to support their relatives.” He also pointed out that Roca Sánchez, unlike other victims, was an “absolutely trustworthy” colonel, and linked him to public appearances with foreign figures: “He was with John Kerry [exsecretario de Estado de Estados Unidos]he was with Pope Francis too.”

Relatives of Cubans killed in Venezuela deny that some were soldiers and denounce “montages” in photos published by Granma

A relative of Luis Alberto Hidalgo Canals, one of the Cubans included in the list of “soldiers” killed in Venezuela, stated in another interview with Martí News that his relative “was a civilian driver” and that “he was never a soldier or soldier like they put there [en los medios oficiales]“, and stated that the image published in official Cuban media was manipulated with a uniform that “he never wore in his life.” In the same program, Pentón and Domínguez maintained that the families consulted contradict the official version of Havana, which – as they said – presents the deceased as “heroes” who “died fighting to the end for their country.”

The journalist explained that Martí News He has received “impressive” testimonies since “the names of these Cubans killed in Venezuela began to appear” and stated that, by observing “the images of what happened there,” he concluded that “those people were definitely not prepared for a Delta group.”

In the first testimony reproduced, the interviewee — identified as a family member — said he did not know if the bodies would be repatriated: “No, they have not told us anything.” To questions about how long the victim had been in Venezuela, he responded: “Five months.” He also insisted that his relative had no military ties: “He was a civilian driver, he was never a soldier, he was never even a soldier.”

The relative denied that he had received training for security tasks and attributed the trip to economic reasons: “Unfortunately he worked because he didn’t have a job and he started working there.” Later, he rejected the narrative of a “patriotic” mission and expressed it in these terms: “He did not go to Venezuela to defend any homeland or to defend anything. He went to Venezuela to help his family, more than that, to get ahead.”

The interviewee also noted that officers came to his house “about three or four days ago” to report the death. “Now they put the photo of all those people who were there, who died unfortunately… Even the photo is edited with a military green suit, who never wore a green suit in their life, ever. (…) It’s all a lie.”

The same family member assured that the authorities mentioned the possibility of a tribute, something that his family rejects: “Here they told us that later they wanted to pay a tribute and we don’t want that, we don’t want a tribute or anything.”

Domínguez interpreted that many would have gone to Venezuela to “get two reales to help your family” and considered what happened “painful.”

In a second call, the program presented the testimony of a woman identified as the widow of MININT Lieutenant Colonel Orlando Osoria López. The woman insisted that there was no clear information about the return of the body: “There is no certain information, they have not told us anything.” She also said that her husband was waiting for relief to return to Cuba: “His relief should have arrived since October. It had to end, it was coming.”

However, the conversation ended abruptly when Pentón stated that he worked in Martí News.

The program closed the block with a testimony from former political prisoner José Orlando Cáceres Soto, who announced that the soldier identified as Yoel Pérez Tabares “had repressed” opponents and that he was an “instructor” in “crimes against the security of the State” in Pinar del Río. “We have been physically tortured by this repressor,” he said.