Cubans Defend Themselves Against Esperanza Aguirre’s Accusations · Global Voices
Elaine Díaz

Not long before the end of the year, the president of the People's Party (Partido Popular-PP) of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, told Spanish newspaper ABC [es] that she did not recognize “any justice on the island of Cuba.” She called the time that Ángel Carromero, Vice Secretary of the New Generations of the People's Party, spent in prison “torture,” after he was condemned to four years of imprisonment in Havana for “involuntary manslaughter,” in the in the car accident that cost the lives of Cuban dissidents Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero.
In an article [es] published on Spanish site Cubainformación [es], José Manzaneda states:
José María Viñals, de Lupicinio Abogados, entidad española que coordinó la defensa de Carromero junto a letrados cubanos, afirmó que el procesado “no se quejó del trato (en prisión)”, y que “los letrados cubanos y yo (…) pudimos trabajar de forma independiente”. El cónsul general de España en Cuba, Tomás Rodríguez Pantoja, semanas antes, calificó el juicio celebrado en la ciudad de Bayamo como “correcto”, “limpio” y “procesalmente impecable”.
José María Viñals, of Lupicinio Lawyers, a Spanish entity that coordinated Carromero's defense along with Cuban lawyers, affirmed [es] that the defendant “did not complain about the treatment (in prison),” and that “the Cuban lawyers and I (…) could work in an independent fashion.” The Consul General of Spain in Cuba, Tomás Rodríguez Pantoja, weeks earlier, described [es] the trial celebrated in the city of Bayamo as “correct,” “clean,” and “procedurally impeccable.”
Cuban blogger Iroel Sánchez, author of La Pupila Insomne [es] (The Insomniac Student) emphasized the following:
Aguirre publicó un furioso artículo contra el gobierno cubano en el diario madrileño ABC en el mismo estilo adjetivante con que ha llamado “camorristas y pendencieros” a los indignados españoles.
Aguirre published a furious article against the Cuban government in Madrid's ABC in the same descriptive style that she used to call indignant Spaniards “rowdy and argumentative.”
From La isla desconocida [es] (The unknown island), Cuban intellectual Enrique Ubieta considers [es] the notion that Carromero “will get parole or house arrest” and his sentence will be “reduced to a mere formality.” Nevertheless, he ponders the question of “the bet is more long term: will the PP ignore his criminal past to recycle it in Spain's political future?”
Some blogs created caricatures [es] of Aguirre (“My Angel! If only I kill two Cubans!”), while others criticize [es] her leadership of the Madrid community:
Esperanza Aguirre. Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons under the CC 2.0 License
Y reitero la pregunta: ¿Quién es esta Esperanza Aguirre? La misma que una vez electa Presidenta de la Comunidad de Madrid dejó sin efecto la gratuidad de la vacunación del Neumococo, así como otros servicios sanitarios; bajo su mandato los madrileños presenciaron la privatización de gran parte del sistema de salud, y un deterioro progresivo de las prestaciones sanitarias públicas.
And I reiterate the question: Who is this Esperanza Aguirre? The same woman that, once elected President of the Community of Madrid, eliminated the free pneumococcal vaccines, as well as other healthcare services; under her leadership Madrid locals witnessed the privatization of much of the healthcare system and a progressive deterioration of public health benefits.
Carromero arrived in Madrid on Saturday, December 29, courtesy of an agreement signed in 1998 between both nations that allows the completion of criminal sentences in the country of origin.