A video surfacing on social media Tuesday appears to show Cuban State Security special forces brutally beating and shooting a man in front of his wife and two toddlers.
Miami’s El Nuevo Herald identified the victim in the video as Daniel Cárdenas Díaz, a 24-year-old father of three who had participated in peaceful protests against communism this week. An eyewitness recorded the video at his family home in Cárdenas, Matanzas province, east of Havana. His wife, Marbely Vásquez, confirmed to the newspaper that Cárdenas had participated in protests, but that he was a peaceful marcher, had not committed any violent acts, and did not stand out in his behavior among the thousands of protesters that took the streets of Cuba this weekend. The family’s three children — a pair of two-year-old twins and a 12-year-old — were in the home when the attack occurred.
Protests erupted Sunday in over 20 municipalities nationwide demanding an end to the 62-year-old communist regime and freedom for the Cuban people. Protesters used their rudimentary mobile phones and internet access to film the large assemblies and distribute images that showed the scope of rejection of the regime to the rest of the world. That evening, Castro regime head Miguel Díaz-Canel issued an “order of combat” encouraging civilians to take the streets and attack the protesters. The Cuban regime then shut down access to the internet to prevent word of protests from getting out, though citizens used their family connections abroad to send the word that protests continued into Wednesday throughout the island.
The video of the home invasion in Cárdenas first surfaced on the Facebook profile of Eduardo Pérez. In addition to El Nuevo Herald and other Cuban interest publications confirming the authenticity and date of the video, the human rights group Cuban Prisoners Defenders identified the exact street the invasion occurred on and more specifically identified the victim as Joel Daniel Cárdenas Díaz. The video shows shaky images of Cuban special forces, or “black berets,” invading a residence. A woman off-camera, presumably Vásquez, can be heard shouting, “my children are here, I don’t want them to do anything to my children.” The camera then shows Vásquez holding a toddler; the other twin can be seen standing next to her.
The camera suddenly pivots in response to the arrival of a black beret and a police attack dog into the home. When the image returns, it shows a large pool of blood on the floor where the victim in question had been. Vásquez says that communist state security forces beat her husband viciously, then shot him and took him out of the home.
“Why did they do this, there’s nothing in my house,” the woman cries. “They broke everything. They took everything. They broke everything of mine.”
In addition to the uniformed regime agents, the video shows a mob of apparent civilians armed with blunt metal objects. According to Vásquez, the mob and the police officers beat Cárdenas severely, causing most of the pool of blood on the floor. He sustained at least one gunshot wound.
Warning – graphic images:
Posibles datos del herido gravemente al ser asaltada su vivienda en Velázquez, entre Palma y Campiña, Cárdenas. Efectivos entraron con violencia al domicilio y dispararon a “Joel Daniel Cárdenas Díaz” delante de su mujer y su hija
ES NECESARIO CONTRASTAR:https://t.co/POBY6xJHao pic.twitter.com/B7OqlHcDCZ— Prisoners Defenders (@CubanDefenders) July 14, 2021
El Nuevo Herald quoted Vásquez as saying that police told her they had taken her husband to a police station to receive medical care, but no confirmation exists as of Wednesday afternoon that Cárdenas is alive. The attack, she said, occurred around 11 a.m. on Tuesday. It also remains unclear what police meant by receiving medical care, as they apparently told Vásquez to try to independently obtain an analgesic for her husband.
Continue reading: Breitbart.com
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