Troubadour Fernando Bécquer works in waste after being jailed for sexual abuses.

The Cuban troubadour Fernando Bécquer, who was found guilty of committing sexual abuses against women and initially sentenced in October 2022 to three years and four months of restricted freedom, without imprisonment, currently works in the communal services of the Cuban capital.

The sentence was overturned in January 2023 by the Popular Municipal Court of Central Havana for violating what was established in the original ruling, and the troubadour was sent to prison after composing a "Feminist Guaracha" that sparked the rejection of civil society activists, as well as institutions of the Cuban regime that saw in his verses a mockery of what happened and no sign of recognition and repentance for his actions.

This Monday, May 20th, photographs of the singer-songwriter taken by the user identified on Facebook as Raymer Brown were shared. Brown wondered if this fact was due to a change in policy and if it signaled an upcoming release of the convicted person "for several crimes of lewd abuse."

"I found Bécquer providing service in communal areas on Valle e Infanta street, with a clear change in regime that must be a camp. Perhaps the pose he took for the photo was to let society know that he was already reeducated, ready to reintegrate. Will we see Bécquer on the streets in the coming months? I don't know, time will tell," wondered the author of the publication.

The case of Fernando Bécquer caused an outrage following the revelations made by the independent media outlet El Estornudo and published in December 2021, with detailed testimonies from five women who shared how the musician manipulated them while they were university students to sexually abuse them, with some of them even being underage.

In the trial held in October 2022, around 30 victims testified against the troubadour for over 12 hours, stating that he had committed violent sexual acts without their consent. Since the case gained public attention, the troubadour used his support and declared sympathies for the Cuban regime as a shield to evade a conviction.

Embodied by the timid condemnation imposed on him, three months later the musician published on his social media the full lyrics of a mocking and offensive song against Cuban feminist activists, which was reported and interpreted by the courts as a violation of the condition to maintain a good attitude and respect.

The new judicial decision that sent him to prison indicated that Bécquer had "incurred serious acts that flagrantly and notably violate the requirements of good conduct and respect for the norms of social coexistence, to which he was obligated in compliance with the mentioned legal situation, as had previously been warned".

As a result of the new judicial resolution issued, from now on, said citizen will serve the imposed penalty in an internal regime at a penitentiary establishment," warned the official communication issued by the Provincial Court of Havana.

The publication of photographs showing Bécquer dressed in overalls and work boots next to trash cans sparked reactions among Cuban activists who denounced the ease with which the inmate had been granted a change in his sentence, while hundreds of innocent participants in the historic July 11th protests continue to serve their sentences in prison without the right to such penal benefits.

The troubadour Fernando Bécquer, the sexual predator, whose sentence has always been rare and not at all restorative for his victims, is semi-free or almost free or free and sleeping in his house. Who guarantees that he is no longer a danger to society? A man who mocked several times, not only his victims but also the impunity with which artists sympathetic to the system run, protested Yamilka Lafita on her social networks, comparing this case with the protester and her friend Eliezet Sesma, to whom the authorities do not grant a change of measure.