Cuban mother demands justice five months after her son's murder in Palma Soriano
Denia Fernández Rey is calling for justice from Miami for the death of her son Jesús Alberto, stabbed in June in Palma Soriano. Cuban authorities have not issued an official response.
No official response five months after the crime in Palma Soriano
Denia Fernández Rey has spent five months demanding justice from Miami for the death of her only son, Jesús Alberto Martínez Fernández, murdered in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba. According to periodicocubano.com, the mother gave testimony on Monday to Telemundo 51 in which she denounced the conditions of the medical care received after the attack and questioned the actions of the authorities.
Jesús Alberto, 26 years old, died stabbed in June near the Galaxy bar, also known as El Villar. According to testimonies compiled by communicator Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, the young man was trying to break up a fight when he was attacked. "He jumped from a balcony and landed on top of him and killed him. He tried to defend himself, but he was already practically dead," his mother recounted.
Fernández Rey denounced that shortcomings in the healthcare system aggravated the emergency. "There was no electricity, there was no blood, there was nothing in the hospitals, there was no ambulance," she stated. She also asserted that police initially refused to hand over the body to her and that State Security agents threatened her during the funeral preparations. The available material contains no official response to those allegations or information about the progress of investigations.
Hundreds of neighbours attended the burial. A motorcade of motorcycles accompanied the coffin under the rain through the streets of the municipality. Martínez Fernández worked as a motorcyclist and had his own motor repair workshop.
After the funeral, the mother walked along avenues, corners and poles throughout the municipality placing photographs of her son to keep visible the demand for justice and prevent the crime from going unpunished.
Fernández Rey linked insecurity to electrical blackouts. According to her account, only two points in Palma Soriano maintain continuous electricity supply, and it is in these areas that young people with weapons and drugs congregate.
The mother has a history of opposition activism: she belonged to the Ladies in White, directs FLAMUR in Santiago de Cuba and coordinates the Cuban Women's Network in the eastern part of the country. Her husband, Alberto Martínez, heads the Cuban Republican Party. Opposition organisations identified the son of both as a leader of Republican Youth Impact.
Fernández Rey attributed direct responsibility to the regime for the death, citing the climate of insecurity at the national level. FLAMUR described the crime as a "vile murder" and demanded action against violence. The Cuban Women's Network held the Cuban State responsible "for this event and for the climate of insecurity that today prevails on the streets".
Source: Google News CU — Crime