Tracey Eaton of Along the Malecon is reporting that Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia has died after a Cuban police beat him.

This happened in Santa Clara in central Cuba. The report said that Soto was beaten while in handcuffs.

Unfortunately arrests and beatings are a fairly common occurrence in Cuba but I felt especially obligated to get this story out as much as possible.

We openly support the freedom of speech and freedom of expression to all people in any country.

Cuba needs to let it’s people be free.

The Associated Press is reporting…

A Cuban state-run website on Monday denied opposition claims that police beat an ailing dissident who died two days later, citing witnesses who the site said confirmed the man was not mistreated.

The online portal Cubadebate, which authorities often use to disseminate official positions, said Juan Wilfredo Soto died early Sunday of complications from acute pancreatitis. The website cited pro-government journalist Norelys Morales’ reporting of comments by a doctor who attended to Soto in the central city of Santa Clara.

The site noted the 46-year-old Soto suffered from ailments including diabetes, hypertension and heart problems, and said any suggestion he died as a result of police behavior was part of an opposition-inspired media campaign against the state.

“Spokespeople for the counterrevolution had tried to encourage a defamatory campaign against the Cuban government,” the article said.

Morales reported in her blog that Dr. Ruben Aneiro Medina told her that Soto did not show signs of having been beaten.

Cuban dissidents have acknowledged Soto’s health issues but accuse police of beating him and provoking his death at a protest Thursday where he shouted anti-government slogans.

END

So there you have it. The Cuban government is telling the truth and the Cuban dissidents are liars. Case closed.

How about an autopsy report? Let’s see if the Cuban government has the courage to release that!

Now Amnesty International is involved and they want answers.

Always good to get international eyes on humanitarian issues in Cuba.

I think an autopsy report would be the first thing the government would release.

However, this is shaping up to be a lose/lose for the Cuban government.

If they resist providing more information, they look like they are hiding something.

If they do provide more information, it will show that this man was beaten and perhaps while he was in hand cuffs.

Maybe it’s about time that Raul reform Cuba’s repression policy against people who want their God given rights to freedom of speech.

This is getting good now

The poor little Cuban government is the target of a “new slander by external and internal enemies attempting to distort Cuban realities and undermine the international prestige of the revolution and its moral strength.”

Larry Moonze from The Post, “the paper that digs deeper”, is picking up a story Enemies attempting to distort Cuba’s moral strength

The Cuban government stated that that new slander campaign was being orchestrated against the revolution around the death from acute pancreatitis of Cuban Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia on May 8 in the Santa Clara Arnaldo Milián Castro Provincial Hospital.

“Counterrevolutionary elements have unscrupulously fabricated the lie that Soto Garcia’s death was the result of an alleged beating by agents of the Ministry of the Interior, a lie that was rapidly amplified by the disinformation media, fundamentally in Europe and the United States, where even certain government spokespersons have expressed concern over this alleged event,” read in part the note.

The authorities explained that on May 6, Soto Garcia was admitted to the aforementioned hospital with intense abdominal pain provoked by acute pancreatitis. It stated that Soto Garcia was subsequently diagnosed with descompensation brought about by other internal disorders such as dilated myocardiopathy, Hyperlipidemia (excess of fat in the blood), diabetes and chronic hepatitis produced by fatty liver disease.

The government stated that the autopsy performed on the patient established death from natural causes, “the preliminary one being “multifactorial shock resulting from multi-organ failure due to pancreatitis.” There were no signs of internal or external violence.”

END

When that autopsy is independently verified by Amnesty International or some other credible international organization, then I’ll believe it.

The article goes on to say that the Cuban government has “patiently endured the implacable disinformation campaigns about human rights, coordinated from the United States and some countries within the European Union that demand from us no less than unconditional surrender and the immediate dismantling of our socialist system while encouraging, directing and assisting domestic mercenaries in breaking the law. The Revolution has always been defended with the truth and invincible strength of the people, who trust in the strength of the ideas of justice which made it possible.”

END

I love it when the Cuban government tries to defend itself. It’s just so silly. I can’t believe that they believe that anyone believes what they believe

Okay, I’ll eat my words a bit here.

The Associated Press is reporting that Granma has published an article stating that the medical examiner and Soto’s relatives are insisting that he died of natural causes and showed no sign of being beaten.

The article quotes his sister Rosa Soto Garcia as saying claims of police abuse are “a big lie.”

Thursday’s article also cites Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez Jorge, who performed an autopsy. He tells Granma that the body had no trace of external or internal injury. He rules out claims that an alleged beating caused Soto’s death, saying trauma serious enough to do so would have left “visible” evidence.

END

So, I have to give credit to the Cuban government for coming out with this statement. If it weren’t true I think they would be in more trouble.

Of course the death of Mr. Soto is unfortunate but I have to say I think it’s a good thing this story/rumor/slander campaign came out and it’s good that the Cuban government replied. My apologies are deserved by Larry Moonze of the Post.

From the real Cuba

Report from Cuba: One of the cops who beat a Cuban dissident to death, shot himself

May 13 - There are reports from Cuba that one of the officers who took part in the beating death of Cuban dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, committed suicide.

Radio Mambi called Camacho Funeral Home in Santa Clara on Friday and a woman there confirmed that a police officer had committed suicide by shooting himself on the head and was buried Friday afternoon.

She didn’t know the name of the officer.

Several dissident sources have said that the officer was one of those involved in the beating death of the Cuban dissident last week.

END

Unfortunately there is no link for more information or the source of the information.

And Penultimosdias is reporting that Mr. Soto did not have pancreatitis.