He was allegedly beaten by police days earlier.
News DeskMay 9, 2011 03:17
A Cuban dissident, Juan Wilfredo Soto, died Sunday, days after allegedly
being beaten by police and detained.
Three days before he died, Soto, 46, was beaten by police while being
arrested in a park and then detained, human rights activist Elizardo
Sanchez told AFP.
"There is not the slightest doubt that there was a cause and effect, and
that Soto's death was related to the beating he was given," another
dissident, Guillermo Farinas, said.
Soto died in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara. An official at the
Arnaldo Milian Hospital told CNN that Soto died of pancreatitis.
About 80 people, including other prominent dissidents, attended his
funeral Sunday, Reuters reports.
Anti-government activist Lizet Zamora told CNN she saw the beating of
Soto on a cell phone.
Soto had previously served 12 years behind bars as a political dissident.
President Raul Castro said in April that dissidents are not welcome in Cuba.
"If we do not do something, so that the government changes its stand
toward peaceful protestors, we are going to be reporting even more
deaths," Farinas told.
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