Cubans Run Over by a Car and Secrecy
HAVANA TIMES – During the past seven days, in terms of national news, nothing was more recurrent than the running over of nine people (including minors) in Havana, an event shrouded in mystery ever since it first appeared on social media.
As soon as the news broke, the Cuban people themselves were “run over,” because the authorities kept a sepulchral silence about the identity of the driver of the killer vehicle, saying only—curiously—that he was a foreign citizen.
Not to fan the flames, but it has been demonstrated that when an ordinary Cuban commits a serious crime (and frankly, I can’t recall many like this one), their identity is immediately revealed, along with the classic note that “the full weight of the law will fall upon them.”
I remember in 2019 there were four deaths and several injuries on Havana’s Malecón, caused by the recklessness of a drunk driver, and it didn’t take long for his identity to come out.
In this recent case, for more than a week—since the incident occurred at dawn on August 25 and the statement from the Attorney General’s Office wasn’t released until September 4—social media was awash with speculation about the aggressor behind the wheel of a red Audi.
The independent outlet 14ymedio reported, just a few days later, that the driver was Italian citizen Berto Savina, an entrepreneur directly linked to the regime. Savina owns the company Italsav and the dollar store Casalinda, located on Galiano Street in Old Havana, and he has appeared in several photos with the ruling elite, including President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
However, on September 4, his son Gianluca Savina claimed on Facebook that his father could not have been responsible, since he had been in Italy since August 19.
Doing independent journalism under a dictatorship is very complicated, which is why it’s extremely difficult to submit information to the scrutiny of multiple sources, because silence reigns. If corroborating a fact is tortuous even for official media—since officials themselves don’t want to get into trouble—multiply that by several times when it comes to an independent outlet, even if anonymity is offered.
In this case, the uproar caused by the alleged aggressor’s connections forced the Attorney General’s Office to state that the driver was another Italian, Mario Pontolillo, 56, also linked to the government, though less prominently than the other.
A policeman by profession, he confessed in his initial statements that he felt his life was being threatened and so he began running people over. But according to what has surfaced so far, he showed no sign of remorse.
For now, Pontolillo, who has permanent residency in Cuba and has lived there for 10 years, is being held in provisional custody and is barred from leaving the country.
Running over nine people in different places during a rampage across two municipalities in downtown Havana—one of whom, Mairovis Valier Heredia, died—will, in itself, mean a heavy sentence for the perpetrator, if justice is truly served.
The family of the deceased woman, 35 years old and mother of three children, demanded justice through social media—the only space available to them. But without Savina’s name initially entering the spotlight, perhaps we would still be waiting for the authorities to reveal the driver’s identity.
In fact, Inalbis Heredia, sister of the victim, posted Pontolillo’s photo online, identifying him as the perpetrator, and only hours later did the Attorney General release its note.
The most serious aspect of this case is the disregard shown to the victims and, more broadly, to the Cuban people. On September 1, the Interior Ministry had already announced in an official note that the aggressor had been detained, but beyond saying he was a foreigner, no further details were given, as if it were a state secret.
As expected, the official note took pleasure in declaring that independent outlets had misinformed their audiences by accusing Savina. But the truth is, if they hadn’t “pulled the blanket,” speculation might still be swirling about who was behind the wheel on August 25.
Nothing was said about the delay in providing accurate information, as if everything had been handled in the most natural way in the world.
And this goes far beyond a mere criminal act, because it’s impossible to assess the motivations of the individual or consider ways of preventing such situations if the perpetrator is not even identified and his identity made public.
The cloudiness surrounding this case even raises speculation about whether Pontolillo might be serving as a scapegoat to save his compatriot, whose political entanglements would create greater problems for the government.
Clearly, there are still loose ends here. But the root cause is secrecy and a lack of transparency from the outset. That’s why, more than the physical act of running people over (which is gravely serious, let’s not downplay it), this case represents yet another trampling of the dignity of the Cuban people.