CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Statements by Spanish Government on Cuba Described as Unacceptable

HAVANA, January 21, 2012.- Cuba described as unacceptable the statements of the Spanish Government that does not have the slightest moral authority to judge the Caribbean nation.

Various media have echoed the statements made by the Vice President of the Spanish government of the People's Party, Soraya Sáenz, and the statements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, regarding the death of the Cuban prisoner Wilman Villar Mendoza.

The prisoner had been convicted of beating and injuring his wife in public and then assaulting police officers who answered to the complaint of his wife´s mother.

For its part, the High Representative of the European Union for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, said that this case raises questions about the Cuban judicial and penal system.

Consulted by Prensa Latina, a Cuban Foreign Ministry official said "it is unusual for the Government of Spain, with half of its young people unemployed and a high rate of murders and violence against women, to spend money on a campaign to present a brutal attack by a man on his wife as a case of political dissent. "

He also registered Cuba's "strong rejection to these unacceptable statements, made without even trying to find out what really happened".

"Neither the Spanish government nor the European Union have the slightest moral authority to judge Cuba," he said. (Cubaminrex/Prensa Latina)