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The mother of the Cuban mixed martial arts fighter Javier Ernesto Martín Gutiérrez, known as "Spiderman," reported this Friday that her son was violently arrested in Marianao, Havana, by agents in plain clothes, and that the authorities are refusing to provide her with information about his whereabouts.
The arrest occurred near the Jesús Menéndez Sports Complex, where unidentified agents forced him into a vehicle with no visible license plates and, according to his family, beat him during the arrest.
Lourdes Gutiérrez, mother of Spiderman, went to a police unit seeking answers and reported what happened to Martí Noticias from the location.
"Where they have not wanted to give me any information regarding my children. I am asking to speak with the politician, and they have ignored me," she declared, visibly distressed.
The authorities responded that her son had not passed through that unit, but they refused to guide her on where he might be.
"They inform me and tell me that my son hasn't been here, but they also don't want to give me any information about where he is," he reported.
Lourdes described the police response as a deliberate wall of silence: "They say they don't need to know just because I feel like it. They don't need to know where my son is."
Regarding the beating that her son allegedly suffered at the time of his arrest, the mother was straightforward: "The only thing I asked is that they never lay a hand on him. And as I understand it, they really beat him up."
Spiderman, champion of the Cuban Fighting League (CFL) in the 135-pound category, has been engaging in public protests for at least six consecutive days from the balcony of his home on 31st Avenue in Havana, in front of the El Lido terminal, since April 19.
During those days, the fighter denounced the humanitarian crisis in Cuba —including women and children eating from the trash— and openly challenged State Security: "Come for me. Shoot with whatever you want", he shouted from his balcony.
Despite the fact that agents visited his mother and a counterintelligence psychologist attempted to contact him during the days of protest, Spiderman had not been detained until last Wednesday, according to the latest reports available before his arrest.
His case generated widespread impact and support from figures in the Cuban activism community, including the rapper El Funky and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara from the San Isidro Movement.
The arrest occurs in a context of increasing repression: Cuba recorded 1,250 political prisoners by the end of March 2026, a record number since 2021, with 44 new political detentions in just that month, according to the organization Prisoners Defenders.
"If they hit my son, this is going to end badly," warned Luordes Gutiérrez as he concluded his report in front of the police unit.
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