Cuban Gov. Disavows Blame in Prisoner’s Death
HAVANA TIMES, Jan 23 — In a lengthy editorial published today in the Granma newspaper, the Cuban government denied responsibility for the death of prisoner Wilman Villar Mendoza.
“The Cuban government is being accused in an unreasonable manner, with it being blamed even without the most minimal investigation into the facts of the matter,” the editorial read, while denying that the man was being punished for political reasons.
The official notice gives no further information regarding the circumstances under which the death occurred and does not respond to any of the arguments or testimony presented yesterday by Cuban dissidents in the Cubamatinal website.
Villar Mendoza, 31, died last Thursday in Santiago de Cuba from organ failures caused by generalized sepsis after a prolonged hunger strike.
The news item has a direct link to the government’s statement in their main newspaper. We will also publish the official english version when they publish it.
This is misleading, officials published details of Villar’s death two days ago –
“A las 18:45 horas del 19 de enero falleció en Santiago de Cuba el reclusocomún Wilman Villar Mendoza, en la sala de cuidados intensivosdel hospital Clínico Quirúrgico “Doctor Juan Bruno Zayas”, a causa defallo multi-orgánico secundario a un proceso respiratorio séptico severo,que llevó al paciente a un shock por sepsis.Esta persona había sido remitida con urgencia el pasado 13 de enero delcentro penitenciario “Aguadores”, al hospital provincial “SaturninoLora”, al presentar síntomas de una neumonía severa del pulmónizquierdo, recibiendo todas las atenciones para este tipo de afecciones,aplicándosele ventilación y nutrición artificial, fluidoterapia,hemoderivados, apoyo con drogas vasoactivas y antibióticos de amplioespectro de última generación”