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The brutal assault that nearly cost the life of a mototaxi driver in Sancti Spíritus in November exposed a criminal network, which includes the attacker and three other individuals in the province of Ciego de Ávila, as revealed by the investigation from the Ministry of the Interior (Minint).
The victim, whose name has not been disclosed, is a 57-year-old self-employed worker with a license to transport passengers, who was assaulted by an alleged client on November 13, on the Central Highway, near the Palo Bridge and the entrance to the Zaza hotel, in Sancti Spíritus.
The attacker had rented the driver’s services hours earlier, who first took him to the town of Alicante; then to Tuinucú to look for a medication, and finally, to the entrance of the Zaza hotel, where he was supposedly going to catch a ride to Ciego de Ávila.
Taking advantage of the solitude of the place, the supposed client struck the taxi driver's neck with a hammer while the motorcycle was still in motion. Both fell to the pavement and immediately, the assailant restrained the driver by the neck and threatened to kill him “if he screamed” and “tried to move” or if he reported it to the police, according to a report published this Monday on the official site Cubadebate, which detailed the specifics of the incident.
The assailant fled on the black Panther 125 CC motorcycle, owned by the victim, and also took a backpack containing money, legal documents, and their mobile phone.
Following the report of the assault, a team with various specialties from the Minint was formed to investigate the case, explained Lieutenant Colonel Rolando Rodríguez Carmenate from the Provincial Criminal Investigation Unit of Sancti Spíritus.
The leads led to the municipality of Ciro Redondo, in Ciego de Ávila, where the suspected perpetrator of the robbery was arrested. Subsequently, the individual was taken to Sancti Spíritus, where he was identified by the victim.
At the end of November, in information published on the Facebook profile "Avileños de Corazón," linked to Minint, the aggressor was identified as José Luis González Valgas.
The report stated that the police acted quickly and apprehended the suspect shortly after the robbery, while the motorcycle was recovered from alleged receivers, who were also implicated.
Rodríguez Carmenate confirmed to Cubadebate the detention of the four individuals involved in Ciego de Ávila, “thanks to anonymous information from the public, effective investigation, and cooperation among various specialties of Minint.”
In the town of Fallas, the recipient of the stolen Panther was arrested, who gave the assailant a scooter of “investigated origin” in exchange. The police captured the man in Chambas who disassembled the motorcycle into parts and sold the unit in Camagüey. Finally, in the locality of Pina, the individual who hid the scooter that had been given to the author of the robbery in exchange for the stolen Panther was detained.
The lieutenant colonel noted that "all those involved have confessed," and the stolen motorcycle has been recovered in parts and pieces; however, the unit in Camagüey and the victim's cell phone are still yet to be found.
"The motorcycle theft was not an isolated act: it was part of a well-organized criminal chain," the Minint officer stated. The police investigation uncovered a "clandestine economic circuit" that included "transporting the vehicle to another province, exchanging it for a small motorcycle, dismantling, fragmented marketing, and camouflaging goods."
As part of the investigation, a judicial process was initiated for robbery with violence and intimidation against individuals, one of the most severe criminal offenses outlined in the Cuban Penal Code.
The incident also highlighted the high risk that the victim faced, who could have died as a result of the attack.
The driver recovered from his injuries and today “is trying to get back on the road, but he is not the same. Now he hesitates in front of a passenger (...) driving with a memory lodged in his throat: that of fingers cutting off his air,” the report warned.
This assault brought back memories of a recent crime that shocked all of Sancti Spíritus: the murder of Professor Santiago Diosdado Morgado Morgado, in July 2022, also for the purpose of stealing the motorcycle he used to earn his daily living.
More than three years later, the population continues to report the frequency of similar assaults, the violence of the methods, and the lack of protection on the streets.
The insecurity in cities and towns in Cuba continues to rise due to the economic crisis, lack of control by authorities, and growing impunity.
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