By: Yoaxis Marcheco Suarez
I know that the truth will always prevail over a lie and that light will disperse darkness, leaving all things once dark and hidden to be discovered; thus it shall be with the events associated with the death of Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, who his friends and acquaintances called “The Student”. This man fought against the Cuban Regime from the age of 16, suffered three sentences making a total of 12 years in prison for the “terrible crime” of dissenting. His state of health was extremely difficult, although his appearance pointed to a stout and healthy man; but many times appearances deceive us, and inside that bulky body there was a very sick heart, and his organs were suffering the effects of Diabetes Mellitus, gout, and severely high blood pressure that reached levels of 230 maximum and 130 minimum, truly alarming figures.
Juan Wilfredo was a loving man, even so another pastor told us that he shared with us and his relatives, friends, and battle comrades the feelings of pain for the loss of this human being, who always demonstrated being opposed to violence, and whose methods of fighting were peaceful. I remember seeing him once embracing my husband very spontaneously and effusively, calling him ‘Pastor’. So this he also called him that Thursday morning when he was to be transferred only to the hospital to be attended to after the beating, which according to his own testimony, was given to him by agents of order in Vidal Park in the City of Santa Clara, a place that Juan Wilfredo frequented. He moved with great pain and in one sentence to my husband — which didn’t seem to be literal to him — told him “they have killed me”. Sadly, he complied with what was predicted for him, and hours later he died.
I have no doubt that the Regime will start to look for arguments to shake the death of Juan Wilfredo from its shoulders, but this death is an error more of the system and of the Cuban Government; and the sum of these errors grows every day. They will try to distort the diagnosis or the cause of death, the scene of the crime will be falsified, the same as the testimony of victim himself and of any other witness who without fear and motivated by conscience might decide to expose what he saw and what really happened. Nor will the cunning arguments be lacking to discredit Juan Wilfredo with wild accusations; perhaps they will attribute him with the qualifier of habitual criminal or common criminal, and diverse accusations of having performed illegalities or what other fallacy. But the fact of the death of this man is out there, it is real, and the world has started to know it.
Light will never be underneath a bushel, but on the candlestick, the light will shine and leave to be discovered all the garbage hidden underneath the carpet of the decadent Cuban ruling system: “Because there is nothing hidden that except to be made visible; nothing is hidden except to come to light” (Gospel of Mark, 4:22). Whichever lie one wants to weave about the death of this sick man and by his condition — almost defenseless — killed by nightsticks in the hands of the revolutionary police, will remain incinerated by the light of the truth, that which always arises even in the best of hiding places. God will see to it because in this case the most perfect justice might be made, and that those guilty for this death shall not go unpunished.
May 10 2011
