He indefinite closure of facilities and nocturnal militarization of the emblematic Trocha street are received by the people as a failed attempt by the mayor of the city of Santiago de Cuba to stop the violence and rescue public spaces in the hands of juvenile crime.
The measure was adopted following the murder of 18-year-old Dagner Lara Villalón and the injuries received by Fabián Palacios, who underwent emergency surgery and still remains at the Joaquín Castillo Duany Military Hospital.
If the unfortunate incident, which occurred on June 16, caused consternation, The official response was rejected because it does not attack the roots of a crime that transforms neighborhoods into zones of tolerancestreet casinos and coliseums for fights between gangs.
After learning of the tragic outcome, the father of the deceased, Daniel Lara Cleger, posted on Facebook what the residents of Trocha have so often denounced and documented about the dangers that affect young people as victims or perpetrators of their actions.
According to Lara Cleger, the MSMEs are “those responsible for the massacres in Trocha, because they are the ones that cover up the illegal drugs, games and races,” which promote the facts of blood and favor the organization of armed gangs.
As a result of the publication, the Government closed restaurants, cafes and points of sale, from the intersection of Cristina to Calle 10 de Gasómetro, a stretch that, due to the absence of other recreational options, young people turned into their main recreational area.
Both the population and business owners believe that this decision sanctions and seeks to blame individuals, when The State fails to fulfill its duty to eradicate crime.
Yusmila Echemendía, one of the owners questioned, responded to Daniel Lara Cleger asking him “what his 18-year-old son was doing armed in Trocha, at three in the morning.”
For Marcia, a resident of Barracones, “the alienation shown by the deceased and the rest of those involved confirms that the increase in crimes perpetrated by young people—or against them—is notable and is due to the lack of control and systematicity to correct them.” .
One of the eyewitnesses narrated that “the incident occurred when those involved (armed with knives, files, machetes and other sharp objects) confronted each other on behalf of the San Pedrito and Reparto Agüero gangs.”
The same source assured that in the place “there were also the Nuevo Vista Alegre, Altamira, Los Cangrejitos and Planta gangs, which operate with total impunity and have turned the most emblematic area of the Santiago carnivals into a focus of insecurity and organized crime“.
The Police accept bribes and turn their backs on fights
A mother with her son punished for publishing images of the 17M protests said that “with the rate of violence through the roof, the entire city will have to be closed, because chaos breaks out everywhere and the police do not appear or turn their backs on the people.” quarrels”.
Juan Carlos González assured that They closed the businesses because The deceased was a family member of a government official. and nephew of the first secretary of the Union of Young Communists (UJC).
In the same vein, Manuel argued that “lThe Police are responsible for youth finding themselves at a point of no returnbecause he accepts bribes from the gaming tables and motorbike races.
For Darinka, “this is not the first person to be murdered, nor is it the first fight to occur in Trocha. Every day there are assaults, kidnappings, rapes, murders. and, as if that were not enough, the Police themselves—with their mistreatment—deform young people and give them involuntary courses of violence.”
When inquiring with a delegate of Popular Power, he explained on condition of anonymity that andThe Government lacks a comprehensive security and prevention strategywith an approach based on avoiding and resolving armed violence.
Although the population demands that institutions fulfill their obligation to protect the people, The authorities have not taken a stand to build spaces of peace in the most conflictive areas; nor to eliminate the marginality that borders young people and puts them on the path to crime.
A criminal instructor criticized that “the first and only vision they use to resolve and eradicate aggression is based on criminal punishment and political threats, and not on guarantee spaces of harmony, something that does not correspond to the Police”.
“The issue is not that they commit a crime, but rather the aggressiveness with which they do so and the impunity with which the deformities take root in their behavior,” he said.
DIARIO DE CUBA found that many aggressive young people come from marginal areas, but others live in wealthy families and also boast violent attitudes. Dealing marijuana, stealing, playing cards, throwing dice, robbing and fighting to the death are not frowned upon in the area.
Young people identified with criminal gang organizations
In just a few weeks a young man from Santiago can become a dangerous bandit, it all depends on his access to weapons and drugs. Parents with alcohol problems, dysfunctional families, unsafe environments, inequalities, poverty and school dropouts are factors that also lead to crime.
The reality is not new, but more visible and booming. Although there are no official records, the lawyers consulted assure that There is an uptick in lethal crimes and the city is experiencing an unprecedented cycle of violence.
Less than 24 hours after the murder of Dagner Lara Villalón, other young people staged a fight with knives, which did not have fatal consequences because the business owners prevented it.
Days later, young Nicolás Román Torres showed up at the house of Héctor Labadí, director of the young computer club on Enramadas Street, and for no apparent reason stabbed him and left him for dead.
At the end of December 2023, Drayan Enrique Cuevas Bueno, 16, was murdered in a street fight during a party on Camacho Street, just six blocks from where Lara Villalón died.
The authorities then treated a similar situation differently, because it involved a teenager whose mother was in prison and whose father was orphaned, as he had committed suicide when the child was ten years old.
Still on Cuevas Bueno’s Facebook profile there is a publication praising the Mara Salvatrucha, a criminal gang organization with which he and his friends felt identified.
Other cases of police inaction are reported in the face of femicides in the middle of the street. The absurd thing is that murderers are proud of their actions.
Although Many parents are faced with violence that they do not understand and do not know how to stop it.yes they accept that Involution responds to the social environment and the type of crime to which young people are exposed.
Most of the members of the youth gangs of Santiago de Cuba They are between 12 and 20 years old, and according to the current Penal Code, they cannot respond criminally before the courts.
