“(When my father left El Mariel...) I was four years old. They tell me that my father was told he had to get on a boat and leave or he would be sent to La Cabaña prison. Because of that, my mother was left alone, due to what the Cuban government did to my father, and she decided to take her own life. Those are the stories I have heard since I was a child.”
"At that time, around 1992 and 1993, in this unit (in Mariel), many drug boats were coming in. On some occasions, we had to defend a position... as recruits, we had to fight several boats and then comb the area to catch the agents. They sent me, a recruit, to comb all the mangroves to catch those people under fire. That's why mothers don't want to send their sons to military service, because they see many things there that are not talked about on the streets."
"When I get to Calzada de Diez de Octubre and Santos Suárez, that's where they fire the first shot at me, but it misses. It hits a woman next to a friend of mine, and he says to me, ‘Damn, Osiris, they're shooting!’ 'Yes, they're shooting... now you go in first, and then I'll go in.' When I go inside, they fire the first shot, aiming at my head. I was at the kiosk, but when I start to run inside the building, the second shot hits me in the foot, above my right tibia. I fall down there. When I try to get up to go inside the building, they shoot me again in the back. Those officers kept shooting at the people, not just at me, they were shooting at everyone."
"When I was taken in front of the Calixto Garcia hospital, I was still conscious and saw a group of people shouting: are you going to save this contra revolutionary? Many of them were beating him while I was lying on the lounger. In the end the doctors told the mob to let me be and I was able to go inside."
"It was attempted to achieve two things: on the one hand it was hoped that the police officers that carried out the shooting from about eleven meters to be tried in the Diez de Octubre county, since it was clearly a crime. Additionally, it was also important to get some compensation that would reflect the lasting effects of this event. The subsequent response from the state claimed that the police officers fulfilled all orders, and thus did their job well."
Osiris José Puerto Terry was born into a family whose life was significantly affected by the Cuban government’s actions against its people. During what is commonly referred to as the Mariel exodus, Osiris’s father, who had always worked as a warehouse worker, had to say goodbye to the rest of his family and board a boat bound for the United States. The authorities gave him no choice but to emigrate under threat of imprisonment. The boy’s mother could not live without her husband and decided to take her own life. The young man grew up with his aunt and, after completing twelve years of basic education, began his military service. Over the next six years, he had the opportunity to take several special courses, such as sniper training. However, life as a soldier at that time was also full of humiliation of all kinds, and young men had to participate directly in armed clashes with boats transporting drugs near the Cuban coast. In 1996, Osiris wrote a letter to his father in which he described his desire to join the CIA. The letter was intercepted and Osiris was discharged. He then worked as a baker until he became self-employed with his own mobile ice cream van. Osiris’s life revolved around the Calzada de Diez de Octubre until the moment that changed it forever. It was July 11, 2021, and historic demonstrations against the government broke out in Cuba. Osiris was on the street selling ice cream when he decided to join the crowd. He witnessed several clashes that culminated in the shooting of protesters by the repressive forces. Osiris was shot several times. Before being admitted to the hospital, he was beaten by State Security agents. The operation was followed immediately by interrogations, and Osiris had to leave the hospital after only twelve days, with his stomach still open. Since then, he has been fighting for justice and compensation. So far, he has not been able to secure a trial for those who shot him, nor has he received any decent compensation.
