Former Political Prisoner from Cuba's Black Spring Found Dead in Florida

August 12, 2023

Cuban ex-political prisoner Nelson Molinet Espino, one of 75 opponents arrested and sentenced in 2003 during Cuba's so-called Black Spring, was found dead inside a vehicle in south Florida, family and exile sources reported this Saturday.

The 59-year-old labor union leader Molinet Espino, who served as president of the Confederation of Democratic Workers of Cuba and was a promoter of the Varela Project, promoted by the Christian Liberation Movement and its leader, Oswaldo Payá, suffered cognitive deterioration and had been missing since August 7th.

No information has been provided about the causes of death.

"He was found dead inside a car in Hallandale," said Normando Hernández, general director of the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press, with no further details. Hernández was a friend of Molinet and, like him, a member of the so-called Group of 75, the opponents arrested who were subjected to summary trials that same year.

Nelson Molinet was sentenced to 20 years in prison under Law No. 88, which punishes acts against the protection of national independence and the Cuban economy.

Of the 75 group members, 52, including Molinet, accepted exile in Spain in 2010, as a result of negotiations involving the Catholic Church, the Spanish government, and the Cuban regime.

Molinet later moved from Spain to the United States and had been living in Miami Dade for about 10 years.

When his disappearance was reported earlier this week, his daughter, Karen Molinet, told Miami channel América TeVé that her father suffered from "post-traumatic disorders," in addition to memory loss and communication problems.