Chilean Judiciary Dismisses Case of Cuban Assaulted by Mijaín López at 2023 Pan American Games

The lawsuit filed by Damián Montes de Oca Iglesias, the Cuban assaulted by Mijaín López and other members of the Cuban delegation at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, has been dismissed by the Chilean Prosecutor's Office, according to Diario de Cuba, citing sources from the plaintiff and his lawyer.

Montes de Oca explained that "the case was closed supposedly due to lack of evidence. This is how justice works in this country. Everything moved very quickly, and the evidence was submitted. It didn't even take two months for the Prosecutor's Office to close the case."

The young man presented videos of the assault as part of the evidence to support his case. The lawsuit was filed with the Carabineros (Chilean police), and it was processed by the Prosecutor's Office of the Comuna de Maipú, the district where the baseball stadium is located, where Damián was assaulted.

However, the case was forcibly closed. "Maipú is the district with the most communists in Santiago de Chile," Montes de Oca pointed out, suggesting a political angle to his case.

His lawyer, Pía Balbontín Díaz, who advised him throughout the case, added other elements indicating that the context did not favor the Cuban. "Currently, in Chile, undocumented individuals are not a national priority, and this young man is undocumented. To the authorities, he means nothing in this country. There is a very severe migration crisis here right now," she explained.

"I was at the stadium when Mijaín López struck this young man, but Carabineros did not intervene because they were protecting the official Cuban delegation. The Prosecutor's Office could have continued with the investigation, but he did not seek medical verification of his injuries. Mijaín returned to Cuba shortly after. Therefore, the Prosecutor's Office did not pursue this complaint, not giving it priority upon seeing his (Montes de Oca's) data," described the specialist in Human Rights, Migration, and Refuge.

In fact, the lawyer recalled another incident during the continental sports event where, during a volleyball tournament, "the police removed three Cubans from the stands due to their behavior."

Balbontín added that "on top of everything, we are in Chile under a communist government."

The hopes of the Cuban Montes de Oca to seek justice for the violence he experienced were shelved in the Prosecutor's Office. "At the very least, I expected a ruling that would ban Mijaín from entering Chile again, or that he would have to appear before authorities if he entered the country with an open case against him. The Chilean authorities did not do their job properly; this was very poor institutionally," he said.

Although a sanction against Mijaín seemed complicated, given that Chile and Cuba do not have extradition agreements. "It was quite complicated to indict him here," concluded the lawyer.

The young Cuban had filed the complaint with Carabineros on October 26, 2023, two days after Mijaín struck him in the face during a baseball game at the Pan American Games. "I filled out the form detailing each event. I mainly reported the lack of action by Carabineros at the baseball stadium since processing the case would have involved the detention of the Panam Sports brand ambassador (Mijaín López)," said Damián at the time.

Up to that point, the young man from Villa Clara noted that Cuban authorities had not attempted to contact him about the incident and that "they had not publicly apologized," nor had the aggressor.

Legendary former Cuban baseball player José Ariel Contreras called the slap by the wrestler to the protester a "shame" and especially regretted that both he and Mijaín are from Pinar del Río.

Mijaín López, four-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, is currently in France to participate in the Paris Olympic Games, where he will be the flag bearer of the Cuban delegation.