Juan Juan Almeida, 19 November 2019 — The violent deaths occurred in a house located along Camajuaní Highway, at the corner of a roundabout. According for forensic experts, the three family members and their dog died from gunshot wounds. They had been dead for more than twenty-one days when police arrived at the house.
The dead included a former Revolutionary Armed Forces officer, Colonel Eliecer Pérez Vilchés; his wife, Yaquelín Sotolongo Artiles; and their son, 23-year-old Eliecer Pérez Sotolongo.
Some time earlier the 75-year-old colonel had been demoted and fired from his job as an official of Gaviota, Cuba’s military-run tourism conglomerate. During the forensic investigation illegal arms were found at the scene that had never been registered in his name or to any military institution.
Pérez Vilchés was divorced from his previous wife. His 54-year-old current wife had quit her job as an instructor at the provincial military training school after marrying him.
Their son had been admitted several times to a military hospital for psychiatric problems. He had also been dismissed from his university for the same reason.
Evidence suggests that Pérez Sotolongo killed his parents and their dog in a premeditated act and later committed suicide but police sources caution that the investigation is not yet complete.
Neighbors say the family lived in seclusion, isolated from the rest of the world, and did not communicate with anyone, not even with their family members.
The bodies were found after the Vigilance and Protection Corps at a store next to the property reported strange odors coming from the home.
