Havana, Jul 7 (EFE).- A Cuban military court sentenced eight people to up to nine years in prison for a protest against the blackouts in July 2022 that ended in the looting of a state currency store in the town of Covadonga (center).
According to sentence number 13 of 2023 of the Criminal Chamber of the Central Territorial Military Court, to which EFE has been able to access, the convicts – the eight men between the ages of 19 and 63 who were being tried – were mostly found guilty of the crimes of Public Disorders and Contempt, although there were also cases of Sabotage and Robbery with force in things.
Of the eight convicted, seven received prison sentences of between 2 and 9 years in prison, while the remaining defendant was sentenced to “two years of correctional work with internment as an alternative to imprisonment, to be served in an establishment penitentiary”.
The convicted must also compensate financially for the damages that the sentence considers proven.
The court also decided to impose as an “accessory sanction” the “deprivation of rights” for a time equal to the penalty. While serving the sentence and until they pay the “civil liability” imposed, they will not be able to request a passport or leave the national territory.
The ruling indicates that Lieutenant Colonel Wuilder Pérez Gamboa acted as judge in this case and, as prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel José Antonio Comas Llanes.
The ruling considers it proven that several of the convicted started a protest in Covadonga as a result of a blackout on the night of July 30, 2022, in a few weeks with prolonged and frequent blackouts throughout Cubasometimes more than twelve hours a day.
He also affirms that the protest, in which insults were shouted against the country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the motto “Patria y vida” was sung, brought together between 600 and 70 people.
The march culminated in the throwing of several blunt objects against a state store that sold hard currency and, when the windows and the access door were broken, in the looting of the establishment.
The ruling considers it proven that the looting cost the state company CIMEX -part of the Gaesa business conglomerate, of the Revolutionary Armed Forces- a total of 80,128.91 Cuban pesos (667 dollars at the official commercial exchange rate, but about 385 in the informal market ).
In addition to the material damage, the sentence details a long list with dozens of stolen goods, from a toaster oven for 5,160 pesos to two packs of chewing gum for 22.5 pesos.
The blackouts between July and October 2022 generated several dozen minor protests in Cuba, proving to be one of the most sensitive elements for the population.
In fact, blackouts were also among the economic and political causes behind the demonstrations on July 11, 2021, the largest anti-government protests in the country in decades.
Cuba is going through a deep economic crisis with shortages of basic products (food, medicine and fuel), growing inflation, dollarization of the economy, frequent blackouts and an unprecedented mass exodus. EFE
