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The Spanish justice system confirmed that it has an open procedure to enforce a judgment of over 626 million dollars against the Cuban regime for the kidnapping, torture, and death of Rafael del Pino Siero, an American citizen of Cuban origin and former friend of Fidel Castro.
The case has been processed in the Court of First Instance number 11 in Madrid since November 2022, but it remains stalled due to administrative procedures related to the formal notification to the Cuban state.
The family of the deceased seeks to seize goods and assets linked to Cuba in Spanish territory to enforce a judgment obtained in U.S. courts.
El Confidencial reported that on May 21, the judge urged the General Directorate of International Legal Cooperation of the Ministry of Justice to remove the obstacles that have hindered progress in the proceedings.
Months earlier, the court had already requested Spanish authorities to expedite the necessary procedures to officially communicate the lawsuit to Havana. The responses from the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs have not clarified the uncertainties regarding the actual status of the case.
Official sources maintain that the documentation is already at the Spanish embassy in Cuba for submission to the Cuban authorities, but the family's legal representatives claim they have no confirmation that this notification has been completed or that it is recorded with the court.
The execution of the judgment in Spain is part of a legal strategy based on the presence of potentially attachable assets linked to the Cuban state.
The family, for its part, indicates that the chances of recovery are greater than in the United States, where restrictions stemming from the trade embargo significantly limit the existence of Cuban assets that can be seized.
Background of the million-dollar lawsuit
The claim originates from a ruling issued in 2008 by the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Miami-Dade, which held the Republic of Cuba, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, and high-ranking officials of the regime responsible for the kidnapping, imprisonment, and death of Rafael del Pino Siero.
In December 2021, a judge in Florida updated the compensation awarded to the heirs of the victim. The ruling granted $312.8 million to Milagros María Suárez and $313.4 million to Lissette V. Otti, the legal successor of Rafael del Pino Jr., for a total of $626.2 million.
The case has gained visibility again in recent months amid the rising number of legal actions against former Cuban leaders in U.S. courts.
The victim's family maintains that, after decades of waiting, the international enforcement of the sentence represents one of the few avenues to obtain redress for the events.
Who was Rafael del Pino Siero?
Rafael del Pino Siero shared classrooms with Fidel Castro at the Faculty of Legal Sciences of the University of Havana during the 1940s. Their relationship became close, and Castro himself referred to him as a friend in later correspondence.
Del Pino Siero was a veteran of World War II. He became a naturalized American citizen in June 1950, and in 1956 he traveled to Mexico to join Fidel, Raúl Castro, and Che Guevara, but he discovered the strong Soviet influence and the KGB's involvement in the July 26th Movement.
At that moment, he decided to break away from the Castros and return to Miami, where he became a critical figure regarding the direction the Cuban revolution was taking.
On July 25, 1959, he was lured to Cuba through a deception orchestrated by agents of the new government. After his capture, he underwent a military trial that lasted only a few hours and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Del Pino Siero spent nearly two decades imprisoned at the Combinado del Este, where he endured prolonged isolation, abuse, and torture. In 1977, authorities reported that he had committed suicide, but later forensic investigations and testimonies from other inmates concluded that his death was caused intentionally.
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