Sandro Castro, grandson of Fidel Castro, published a video on Facebook this Tuesday regarding the case of the fighter Javier «Spiderman» Martín Gutiérrez, who has been detained by State Security, and expressed that “Hopefully nothing bad happens to him”.
In the first video of his new initiative "NotiSandro," a personal news segment on his social media where, under his alter ego "the vampire," he discusses current Cuban issues, the influencer stated that Spiderman is an acquaintance of his because he worked in his bars in Havana for some time.
"He described him as a respectful, healthy person, a good kid; however, he justified the arrest by stating that 'he expressed himself, and the way he did it may not have a negative intention; but nowadays we are in such a complicated context that it can be seen in different ways.'"
"I also heard him speaking a bit crazily, but in any case, I wish him health and blessings wherever he is, and I hope nothing bad happens to him," she concluded, without mentioning that the young fighter is detained in Villa Marista, the headquarters of State Security, the repressive arm of the regime.
Sandro had announced the opening of his channel: "This week, I will address several topics and respond to the concerns of my followers. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I will discuss the case of Javier Spiderman, followed by that of Jonathan David, and finally the situation regarding fuel."
The statement by Sandro carries a unique symbolic weight: he is the grandson of the dictator who established the system that Spiderman denounced from his balcony in Marianao during more than eight days of solitary peaceful protests by the Cuban champion.
Javier Ernesto Martín Gutiérrez, champion of the Cuban Fighting League in the 135-pound category, began his protests from the balcony of his home on Avenida 31 in Marianao, Havana, around April 15.
From there, he denounced the social crisis, hunger, street violence, the consumption of "el kímico" —a synthetic drug— and stated that "the communist system is dead."
On April 24, agents in plain clothes brutally detained Spiderman on 90th Street between 41 and 43, beat him, and transported him in a black vehicle with no visible license plates to Villa Marista, headquarters of the Cuban political police.
Her mother, Lourdes Gutiérrez, and her wife, Lisandra Cuza, reported the arrest and the police's refusal to disclose his whereabouts in the hours following the arrest.
The transfer to Villa Marista confirmed the political motivations behind Spiderman's detention, while the pro-government outlet Razones de Cuba attempted to delegitimize him by labeling him as "unstable" and justifying his arrest as a "clinical evaluation," in what analysts identified as the use of mental illness as a political weapon, a historical tactic of communist systems to silence dissenters.
This Tuesday, April 28, Spiderman met with his lawyer for the first time at Villa Marista, where he provided statements.
Sandro Castro, who in March declared in an interview with CNN that "the majority of Cubans want capitalism, not communism", maintains an increasingly critical stance towards the system, although his comment about Spiderman —ambiguous and restrained— highlights the limitations of that criticism when it comes to a political prisoner in the hands of State Security.
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