Miriam Celaya, Translator: Norma Whiting
During this past week, Mr. Carlos Valhuerdi, an independent journalist
at the Cubanacán Press website, has been telling me about some recent
developments beginning on the night of May 7th through the 8th in the
city of Santa Clara, after the death of John Wilfredo Soto, resulting
from a brutal beating at the hands of four uniformed police officers and
which, with unusual haste, was denied by government authorities in a
press release issued on Monday the 9th.
On May 12th, Granma published an additional whole page article (page 3)
titled: "Cuba Scorns Lies" with some eyewitness accounts – among them
one of an inexplicably smiling sister of the recently deceased Soto — as
"evidence" of the falseness of the beating. There are always people
lacking in scruples ready to surrender to fear, whether they are
relatives of the victims of repression or not.
What Granma has not reported is the death, on the night of May 11th, of
one of the policemen involved in the beating, as a result of a gunshot
to the head by his own hand on the same Sunday afternoon, the 8th.
According to testimony not published by Granma and revealed to me by
phone by my colleague Valhuerdi, the policeman's name was Alexei
Herrero, and he shot himself in the bathroom of his home, located on the
outskirts of Santa Clara known as Callejón de San Antonio, on Camajuaní
Road, after having returned from the second meeting he had been summoned
to by investigators into the death of Soto. The wake for Alexei — an
individual with propensity for violence, according to testimonies — was
held under heavy police presence at the Santa Clara Funeral Home
(formerly Camacho Funeral Home), an action that extended to the
deceased's own home.
Tension has prevailed in the capital city of Villa Clara, with a steady
eye on the opposition, threats, and even retaliation. Héctor Bermúdez, a
member of the group led by William (Coco) Fariñas, was stoned after
making public statements about the police operation that broke out in
the provincial hospital Arnaldo Milián and the pressure that was put on
doctors when Juan Wilfredo Soto was admitted, which he witnessed
personally. Bermúdez suffered a head wound, as he headed back home, that
required stitches.
On Friday the 13th Santa Clara was still not peaceful. Valhuerdi again
told me about an incident that day at Parque Vidal, in the heart of the
city. This time, a group of citizens — not organized members of an
opposition group — orchestrated a spontaneous repudiation rally against
Amado Gómez Rodríguez, , a flower seller around said park and one of the
witnesses presented by the newspaper Granma, who had stated that Soto
did not receive a beating as the "enemies of the revolution were
describing". The group in question was accusing Amado of being "a
snitch" and other epithets along those lines at the top of their voices,
until uniformed policeman peacefully broke up the angry Santaclareños
without hitting, fining, or arresting anyone. Lesson learned, or wisdom
of the moment, the truth is that this is not the best time to do
something like this in Cubanacán.
In closing, this Sunday the 15th, Our Lady of Charity came to Santa
Clara, following the pilgrimage route through Cuba to mark the 400th
anniversary of her appearance, to be held in 2012. It is said that the
Cuban Holy Patron's reception in Santa Clara was exceptionally
outstanding, with a massive congregation of believers and nonbelievers
who attended under the force of her symbolic significance in the popular
fancy: it is, so to speak, the Cuban Holy Virgin of Freedom since her
presence in the fields of the Independence peasant fighters. Cubans,
after half a century of broken illusions, are seeking a faith that will
unite and sustain them.
Despite the grief that loss of life due to violence incited from power
signifies, it is appropriate that the authorities have received, loud
and clear, an unequivocal signal: sooner or later, people get fed up
with their oppressors. Legitimization of violence, as unwritten
guidelines of the VI Congress, could backfire against the dictatorship
one of these days. Let's not forget that clever saying: For they have
sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.
Translated by Norma Whiting
May 16 2011
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