His name is Manuel Ignacio Montero Maso, he is from Havana, and he has been imprisoned in Mexico since last August. His wife, also Cuban, Indiana Corvo, has explained to CiberCuba the circumstances under which they were both detained, tortured, and, in the case of her husband, imprisoned. They were in Mexico, waiting to cross into the United States. "They have destroyed our dream and our lives," she said in an interview with this portal.
Indiana Corvo recounts that her husband was arrested while they were heading to a new house they had rented due to the rise in rent at their previous location, where they lived with other people. Each resident was assigned a room. The issue is that one of the occupants was kidnapped, and Manuel Ignacio Montero is being accused of being responsible, despite there being a video of the abduction that clearly shows neither he nor his wife is present in the recording.
On the way to the new rental house, the Mexican police stopped the moving truck and arrested the Cuban Manuel Ignacio Montero. En route to the station, the Cuban was handcuffed and during the journey endured beating and mistreatment that continued throughout the interrogation. They even placed black bags over his face to subject him to asphyxiation.
Despite having three witnesses in his favor, Manuel Ignacio Montero remains incarcerated in Toluca (State of Mexico), the same place where Cuban Néstor Damián Gámez was arrested. Gámez has been behind bars for over a year and claims that false accusations have been fabricated against him, including one of sexual abuse against his ex-wife and another of extortion against one of the judges handling his case.
Once Manuel Ignacio Montero was detained, his wife was also arrested, and in front of her husband, she was groped on her breasts and vagina by Mexican agents. While these officers sexually assaulted her, they told her husband, who witnessed the assault, that they were going to rape her.
Indiana Corvo was released the following day, and she later returned to the police station to bring food to her husband. At that moment, she was put into a vehicle and deported to Tabasco, 767 kilometers away from where her husband was being presented before the judge, while she was being expelled.
As a defense, Manuel Ignacio Montero had a court-appointed lawyer who advised him to exercise his right to remain silent. In the midst of this, the young Cuban has been imprisoned for three months, and the case remains open. The kidnapped individual has not been found, and the innocent continues to languish in jail.
When asked if Cubans are safe in Toluca, Indiana Corvo had no doubts. "We are not safe anywhere in Mexico. They are destroying our lives," he concluded.
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