Cuban Mother Decries Release of School Deputy Director Who Raped Her Daughter in Holguín

A Cuban mother has reported that her 15-year-old daughter was raped by the deputy director of her school, the Politécnico Panchito Gómez Toro in Holguín, and that the perpetrator is currently free on bail with no trial date set. The incident occurred on December 7th, and since then, the girl has had to recount the event four times to instructors and prosecutors. The mother, identified on Facebook as Evis Tamayo, explained that the man spent only a month in provisional detention and is now free because his lawyer secured his release with a 15,000-peso bail.

"My family cannot sleep because this man is on the streets without a trial date, even though six months have passed since the incident," Tamayo stated. The girl, who is underage and has a mental disability, has a chronological age of 15 but a diagnosed mental age of 10. On December 7th, the man exploited his authority to take the adolescent to a classroom on the fourth floor of the school at 7:00 am, locked the door with a padlock, and engaged in non-consensual sexual relations as the girl tried to leave but was not allowed to.

However, Cuban justice maintains that if the minor did not scream, it is not considered rape but a lesser offense. "Today, I feel helpless, disappointed, frustrated, but not defeated," the girl's mother expressed in a Facebook post.

Tamayo questions how her daughter, who has been under psychological treatment since the age of 5 for various disorders and has a mental age of 10, could be preyed upon by the deputy director of her school. She described how the man locked her daughter in a classroom on the fourth floor at 7:00 am, refused her requests to leave, told her to lower her skirt, and penetrated her. She questioned whether this act should be considered sexual assault or if it depends on "CONSENT."

The mother noted that after the rape, her daughter changed overnight, experiencing sleep disturbances and talking in her sleep. Tamayo discovered the incident when her daughter confided in a friend from the polytechnic, who then informed her own mother, who, in turn, told the girl’s homeroom teacher. This teacher was the one who called Tamayo to inform her of what had happened.

Once the school was aware, they took immediate action against the deputy director. "The Education Ministry acted quickly and effectively and has a very good and complete file. The ones who are dragging their feet and mishandling the case are the Police. Education conducted a thorough investigation and promptly removed him from the system. I have no complaints on the administrative side," Tamayo told CiberCuba.

She questions how her daughter, with a mental age of 10, could absolve the deputy director of responsibility, especially when the law interprets the absence of violence, force, or intimidation as a lesser crime punishable by one to three years in prison.

The mother also questions how, given her daughter’s disability, it could be considered that there was consent, especially since the deputy director is three times her daughter’s age and maturity level.

This is not the first instance of a Cuban mother denouncing the leniency of Cuban justice in prosecuting rapists. In June 2021, CiberCuba reported on the case of a 13-year-old girl who was gang-raped. Instead of imprisoning the rapists, they were released and began a campaign to discredit the girl. Following media pressure, the process was expedited, and the six rapists were sentenced to 21 years in prison.