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A Cuban teacher was stabbed to death inside the school where he worked, in Guantánamo.
The incident took place on the night of Tuesday while the teacher, identified as Rolando Castelvil Riñat, was on duty at the "José Marcelino Maceo Grajales" Pedagogical School.
The crime, carried out with extreme violence, has sparked a wave of public outrage and renewed demands for justice in the face of rising insecurity in educational institutions.
According to the official profile of Facebook “Guantánamo y su verdad”, the incident occurred when the teacher detected the presence of four young individuals who were not affiliated with the institution attempting to break into the school premises.
When they were asked to leave the area, an altercation ensued that ended in tragedy: “one of the assailants attacked the professor from behind with a knife, inflicting the fatal wound.”
Professor Castelvil was urgently transferred to the Provincial Hospital, where he passed away hours later due to the severity of his injury.
The police reported that, thanks to the identification of a witness, two of the main suspects have been arrested and are currently undergoing legal proceedings.
Although "Guantánamo and its Truth" identified Castelvil as a Physical Education teacher, journalist Miguel Reyes, when reporting on the tragedy, indicated that he was a "History teacher," a claim later confirmed by several comments on social media.
"That man was my teacher five years ago at the same school, in History; he was never a Physical Education teacher," noted an internet user on social media.
"He was an honest man, responsible, a good father, and an excellent teacher," highlighted another commentator on social media.
Other reports on what happened
The crime reporter Niover Licea provided new details on social media that allow for a more accurate reconstruction of the events that took place at the "José Marcelino Maceo Grajales" Pedagogical School.
According to his testimony, the assault occurred following an initial attempt to break into the school.
In the evening, a group of young people gained unauthorized access to the institution and was confronted by the on-duty teachers, including Rolando Castelvil Riñat, who asked them to leave the premises.
A few minutes later, two of the individuals returned. It was then that the attack occurred. One of them, identified by witnesses and family members as a young man of only 19 years, stabbed the professor in the back with a sharp metal file.
The injury was extremely severe: the object perforated the kidney, gallbladder, and intestines.
Another teacher also reportedly sustained injuries while trying to defend himself, receiving an injury to his hand.
Castelvil was transferred to the provincial hospital where he underwent surgery three times and received 16 blood transfusions.
Despite the efforts of the medical team, the internal complications arising from the injury were irreversible.
Family members of the professor confirmed to the aforementioned source that the police managed to apprehend the main suspects, including the direct perpetrator of the attack, the 19-year-old.
An avalanche of pain, anger, and demand for justice
Since the news broke, thousands of messages of mourning have flooded social media. Among the most frequent are calls for exemplary penalties for those responsible for the crime.
"They should be given the maximum penalty; enough with so much violence", demanded a user.
Another commented frankly: “They were prepared and fully intent on harming someone... their intention was very clear.”
Public outrage has escalated with calls to reform the security system in Cuban schools.
"What is a teacher doing on duty at a workplace after their work hours?" asked a citizen.
"There is no protection or security of any kind. Those night guards in the dark are a danger," reported another teacher.
Many users have indirectly held the State responsible for the lack of protection for educational staff: "Until when will teachers have to put themselves on the line for the safety of schools, without security, without light, without resources..."
Between collective pain and the call for an iron fist
In the hundreds of comments circulating on Facebook and other platforms, there is an interplay of sadness, anger, and a sense of helplessness.
The most common words are justice, pain, sentencing, helplessness, maximum penalty. Some even call for the reinstatement of the death penalty or public trials for the attackers.
"Death penalty for those murderers, they don’t deserve anything else"; "Justice, they should pay with their lives for the crime they committed, no one has the right to take the life of someone who was just doing their duty"; "The country is slipping away from us. Where is the security in our schools?"; "Justice for Roli. May his death not go unpunished," are just a few of the comments.
"Today, violence leaves a girl without a father, a world in tears. Until when," lamented another commentator.
A symbol of the school security crisis
The murder of Rolando Castelvil is not just the loss of an educator. It has become a symbol of the helplessness experienced by many workers in the education sector in Cuba.
The case has raised an urgent alert about the lack of minimum conditions to ensure the physical safety of those working in educational institutions, especially in residential or semi-residential facilities, where staff must take on security roles without the proper resources.
Amid the wave of violence shaking Cuban society, the murder of a teacher at their workplace has had a profound impact.
Not only because of the brutality of the act, but also because it once again highlights that teaching—one of the noblest professions—has also become a risky endeavor in a country where impunity and lack of security continue to claim lives.
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