Disrespect for the Dead / Josue Rojas Marin, Cuban Law Association

Josue Rojas Marin

The brother of Juan Miguel Herrera Machado died some years ago, and on exhuming him, he found that the remains of eleven of his loved ones had disappeared from the family vault.

Given the horrendous knowledge he headed to the cemetery administration, where through the manager he learned that the vault now had another owner.  He immediately went to the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) and filed a complaint.  Some days passed with no answer, so he went again and found Prosecutor Leonardo Moreno Torres, of the township of Nuevitas, Camaguey, who oversaw the unit, and again related to him the events.  Months passed without a reply.

Devoted to his purpose, he approached the Chief of Prosecution of the township and who told him that by dealing with an atypical case he had to wait for a special process, that he saw no crime in what he related.  He again waited some more months, until he sought the free service of our Cuban Law Association and we took on his complaint.

In the medium term a criminal process was initiated against those responsible and they were sarcastically sentenced to light penalties.  Today we confront a second phase in the case because the tribunal did not rule on the location of the remains and the Prosecution which had the constitutional duty to carry out the investigations seems to have no interest in giving an objective answer to Juan Miguel in spite of his constant demands.

Translated by mlk

8 November 2013