Alarming Police Brutality Incident Reported in Havana: "How Much Longer Will We Suffer at the Hands of Those Meant to Protect Us?"

A Cuban woman has reported a case of police abuse involving herself, her husband, and her mother in Havana on July 29. The situation is ongoing, as both her husband and mother remain detained. "I am writing this to let the authorities of this country know in whose hands they are leaving the Cuban people. We are being physically and mentally abused by the very police who are supposed to work for our safety. The laws are neither just nor upheld by them," wrote Yenisey Borrero Cuéllar in the first of three posts on the Facebook group Denunciando Crímenes en Cuba.

Borrero Cuéllar, who is a few weeks pregnant, explained that on Tuesday, she was riding a motorbike with her husband to get an abortion at Maternidad de Línea in Havana when her husband committed a traffic violation. She recounts that Patrol 410, belonging to the station at Zapata and C, stopped them and asked for the motorbike’s documents, which they did not have.

"I am sure the bike is not stolen as it has a serial number that can be traced, but the officer seemed to be looking for money and asked the other one, 'What do we do?'" explains the complainant. She asserts that since neither she nor her husband hinted at bribing the officers, they decided to take her husband to the station.

"My husband explained the situation, saying that today was the last day for the abortion procedure, that we were not in a condition to have another child, and that we would lose our turn. But the officer didn't care. He shoved him into the patrol as if he were a criminal," she details.

According to the complainant, the officer pushed her husband into the vehicle and grabbed him by the neck, causing him to become agitated and kick while inside the patrol car. A while later, her mother-in-law called to inform her that her husband was swollen and had stitches in his head. The young woman then went to the station with her mother and requested to speak with a superior.

"I started talking to the officer named Raúl and explained how my husband ended up injured. He simply said that my husband got agitated and they had to hit him. My mother asked how that was possible, and he just told her to step away from the station, saying he wasn't talking to her," recounts Yenisey, who claims that her mother was nearly thrown down the stairs.

The woman alleges that when she tried to defend her mother, she received a slap in the face and one on the stomach, despite being pregnant. "I asked to file a complaint, but only the officer was allowed in, and they took my mother to the cell. We were just seeking answers because no one should be beaten like that," she pointed out.

"How much longer will we endure mistreatment from those who are supposed to protect us? How much longer will they forbid us from speaking and demanding our rights?" questioned the woman, referring to the number of people imprisoned in Cuba for expressing their thoughts.

"We are being left in the hands of cruel, merciless police officers. How much longer, Cuba?" she questioned.

Yenisey Borrero Cuéllar demands the full force of the law be applied to officer "Raúl," from the station at Zapata and C, with identification number 400948, whom she described as a woman abuser and a clear example of abuse of power in Cuba.

"I am pregnant. It is disrespectful that such people are responsible for enforcing law and justice. This will not go unnoticed. They did not take my complaint at Zapata and C, yet he was able to accuse my mother of assault, who is now detained at the Picota station in Old Havana," she denounced.

"I will report you, corrupt officer. How can my mother be imprisoned when you were the one who threw her down the stairs? I demand justice for myself, my mother, and my husband, who can barely open his eyes due to the beating he received from the officer of Patrol 410. Justice," concluded the complainant.