An immigrant who shared a detention center with Denny Adán González rejected the official version stating that the Cuban took his own life. In an interview with CiberCuba, he claimed that he was beaten to death by guards at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia in retaliation for a prior fight.
An immigrant who was detained alongside the Cuban Denny Adán González at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia questioned the official account of his death and claimed that the young man had been assaulted by guards following an altercation that occurred days earlier. This testimony adds to the concerns raised by the Cuban's family, who passed away on April 29 while in ICE custody.
Guillermo Aguilar, deported to Mexico after being detained at the same facility, shared his testimony in an interview for CiberCuba about what he believes happened to Denny, 33 years old, who was found dead on April 29, 2026 in a solitary confinement cell known as "the hole."
"I believe that since he fought and hit the guard, the guards, being friends and getting along well, beat Denny, and they went too far and killed him. I am almost 100 percent sure that this is what happened to Denny," Aguilar stated.
According to his account, on the Sunday prior to the death, Denny had a scuffle with an African American guard. Since the Cuban did not speak English, he did not understand the orders, which led to a confrontation. The guard fell, hit his forehead, and was hospitalized. Following that incident, Denny was immediately placed in solitary confinement.
Aguilar, who was himself in that very cell due to an altercation with another detainee, completely dismisses the possibility of a hanging in that space. “There’s no way you can hang yourself or kill yourself there. Because you are completely alone and the two guards are checking on you every two or three minutes; a guard passes by and has to sign a paper confirming that he checked on you,” he explained.
The former detainee contrasted that cell with the general area of the facility: "If they had told me that he killed himself in the other place where I knew him, where we were with 100 people, I would have said yes, because there is a second floor there, and one could hang themselves, and there is a metal bar to tie to. But in the place where he was, there is no way someone could have hung themselves there."
Aguilar's hypothesis is not just personal. He keeps in touch via WhatsApp with an acquaintance who is still detained in the facility and has a cell phone. That contact confirmed to him: "It's impossible that Denny killed himself." When the journalist asked him if that version is circulating within the facility, Aguilar replied without hesitation: "Yes, exactly."
Denny's family also rejects the official version. His mother, Lourdes González Suárez, who remains in Cuba, demands an independent investigation and stated: "The guards killed him." His older brother, Dayán Hernández González, a resident of Spain, received the news through a brief phone call from "officer Valdés" at the center, who refused to provide details, claiming they were only "obligated to inform."
The Stewart Center, operated by the private company CoreCivic, has recorded at least 13 deaths since 2006. Denny would be the fourth person to die there from an alleged suicide. Amílcar Valencia, Executive Director of El Refugio, described the center as "one of the deadliest detention centers in the country" and called for its closure.
The death of Denny is the eighteenth under ICE custody in 2026 and the third of a Cuban this year, in a context where Cuban detentions increased by 463% between October 2024 and the end of 2025. A study published in JAMA analyzed 272 deaths under ICE custody from fiscal year 2004 until January 19 of this year and concluded that between October 2025 and that date, 18 deaths were recorded, equivalent to an annualized rate of 88.9 deaths per 100,000 detainees, the highest level in 22 years.
The case remains under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, while the family seeks the means to repatriate the remains of the young man to Cuba.
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