The three-time Cuban mixed martial arts champion Javier Ernesto Martín Gutiérrez, known as "Spider-Man," underwent a psychiatric evaluation yesterday at a specialized institute, and the specialists who examined him determined that he has no mental health issues, according to his sister Yuneisy Gutiérrez via social media.
The result directly undermines the narrative that the regime had attempted to construct to discredit the athlete's protests. The propaganda site Razones de Cuba, linked to Counterintelligence, had published the article "From the Balcony to Villa Marista: What Anti-Cuba Media Are Hiding About the Spiderman Case," in which it suggested "behaviors associated with undiagnosed psychiatric disorders" and described supposed symptoms such as "incessant shouting, disjointed accusations, isolation."
Martín Gutiérrez, 34 years old, was arrested on April 24 by approximately ten plainclothes agents on 90th Street between 41st and 43rd, in the municipality of Marianao, Havana. The agents struck him while he resisted and transported him in a black vehicle without license plates to Villa Marista, headquarters of State Security.
His arrest came after more than eight days of peaceful protests from the balcony of his home on Avenida 31 in Marianao, where he denounced the social crisis, hunger, street violence, the use of synthetic drugs known as "el kímico," and that women and children are scavenging for food in the trash. He also directly criticized Miguel Díaz-Canel and stated that "the communist system is dead."
In response to the regime's accusations, her partner Lisandra Cuza denied any health issues: "She is in excellent health," she stated. Yesterday's psychiatric evaluation confirms this version and represents a setback for the official strategy to pathologize dissent.
Yuneisy Gutiérrez was emphatic in sharing the outcome: "I leave you this information to file away in your conscience, for all those who had the guts to label Javi as crazy," she wrote, adding that Spider-Man "only wants what this government prohibits us all: freedom of expression, no more misery, no more blackouts, no more cruelty, and to live as human beings and not like wild animals."
The use of psychiatry as a political weapon in Cuba has a long history spanning decades. Since the 1960s, influenced by the Soviet model, the regime has falsely diagnosed opponents with paranoid schizophrenia and has committed them to the Mazorra Psychiatric Hospital, with practices documented by Amnesty International since 1977. In 2017, Daniel Llorente was confined for nearly a year in Mazorra after protesting with an American flag, despite medical reports that did not support his hospitalization.
In parallel to the psychiatric evaluation, the family confirmed after visiting Spider-Man that the regime is attempting to impose a new charge of "inciting the population to protest." The athlete has already made his first formal statement to the authorities in the presence of his lawyer.
The case also generated outrage over the comment made by Sandro Castro, the grandson of Fidel Castro, who posted a message on Instagram regarding the situation of the athlete, sparking a wave of widespread condemnation on social media against the heir of the Castro dynasty.
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