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The daughter of Giovani Rafael Lorenzo Álvarez, a motorist from Trinidad who has been missing for over 40 days, went out on Friday to categorically deny false information circulating on social media claiming that her father had been found dead.
Lorena Lorenzo Gómez denied the rumor and stated that the whereabouts of her father, a 54-year-old man, remain a mystery.
The false publication was spread by the Facebook account "NiO Reporting a Crime," which urgently claimed in a journalistic tone that Giovani's body had been found in a well in the Casilda area, in Trinidad.
The information was also reported by outlets such as elmiamero.com and cubaherald.org, which expanded its reach before the family could react.
Lorena quickly published a strong denial: "This information is completely FALSE, my dad is still MISSING," she said on Facebook.
"It is incredible that in the midst of the pain and anguish that the family is going through, there are still unscrupulous individuals willing to spread this type of information without even verifying what is being said. No one thinks about the desperation of elderly parents, or the sadness of their daughters, one of whom is barely a child."
Giovani Rafael Lorenzo Álvarez disappeared on February 28, when he left his home around 8:00 AM to take care of everyday tasks and never returned.
The man was riding a purple Missile motorcycle, wearing red shorts and black and red sneakers.
The last recorded sign of life was at 9:23 PM that same day, when his phone died and did not show any signs of life again.
Since then, the Cuban police have not issued any official statements regarding the case nor provided any leads on the whereabouts of the man.
In the face of that institutional silence, the family took it upon themselves to search, using social media as their only tool.
On March 3rd, just days after the disappearance, Lorena made the first public appeal on Facebook: "We are desperate, we beg you to help us find him," she wrote, along with photos of her father and the contact numbers 58255999 and 55227727.
On March 20, when Giovani had already been missing for three weeks, the user Guillermo Rodríguez Sánchez described the situation with a phrase that summarizes the family's despair: "It's as if the earth swallowed him up".
The case illustrates a recurring pattern in Cuba: the complete absence of effective official mechanisms for searching for missing persons forces families to become their own investigators and spokespersons, while the lack of institutional information creates a breeding ground for rumors that further exacerbate the suffering of those who are already devastated by uncertainty.
Giovani is the father of three daughters —one of whom is a minor— and the child of elderly parents. He was a well-known and beloved figure in his community of Trinidad.
Lorena concluded her denial with a warning directed at those who spread the false news: "The weight will fall on the conscience of the person who did it; respect the suffering and desperation of my family."
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