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HAVANA, June (www.cubanet.org) - Eleven-year-old Wilver was alone at home
when they arrived: two trucks bearing agents of the special police, officials of
the municipal housing authority, a judge, and the president of the local
Committee for the Defense of the Revolution.
They were there to execute an eviction order. An ongoing investigation of
Wilver's father's activities suggested he was involved in drug trafficking and
consumption. He was arrested a few months back and is awaiting trial. The
penalties for drug trafficking in the Cuban penal code include confiscation of
property, and Cuban justice is nothing if not swift.
Neighbors who came to watch, attracted by the commotion of so many police,
said the officials made it plain they had come to put the house under seal and
had no time to wait for Wilver's mother to show up.
The neighbors who offered to help were allowed to carry off the home's
furnishings, presumably for safekeeping. Wilver, from a corner of the porch,
watched silently, as a row of people more or less known to him carried
furniture, his clothes, his toys, out of the house that, until a few moments
before, had been his home.
Later, Wilver's mother appealed to the Cuban Women's Federation to correct
what she called an injustice perpetrated by the authorities, saying the house
had belonged to her husband's grandparents as far back as 1943.
An official there explained that "This is an order from the highest
levels of government. There are many like you who have lost everything. Whoever
gets involved with drugs, has to face the law."
Wilver's father is still awaiting trial. His mother says she feels defeated
by the situation.
Versión original
en español
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