Cuban authorities in Havana arrested Spanish citizen Martinho Ramos Soto, who was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison in his country on charges of rape and abuse of a minor, the EFE network confirmed on Monday.
Ramos was arrested by the National Revolutionary Police a few days ago in the Cuban capital, and the Spanish government had already requested his formal extradition after the Ourense Regional Court requested it on October 31.
According to the sources consulted, the National Service Office had been aware of Ramos Soto’s presence in Cuba for months, and since then, after learning of his conviction, he has been under surveillance, but has not been detained.
Moreover, there appears to be a willingness on the part of both countries to facilitate his transfer to Spain, despite the lack of an extradition agreement in effect.
Ramos Soto is one of the ten names requested by the Spanish justice system, whose location and arrest were a priority for the fugitive division that, on Monday specifically, requested the cooperation of citizens to collect possible evidence.
Ramos Soto, a 50-year-old native of Ourense, was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison for sexually assaulting an underage student, through sadistic practices, when the victim was between 12 and 16 years old, the fugitive division said.
Once convicted last July, Ramos Soto did not comply with an order to go to prison to serve his sentence. A national arrest warrant was then issued, even though agents already had indications that the convicted person was outside Spain.
According to the police account of his escape, Ramos Soto traveled to Portugal in July to fly to Brazil from Lisbon. From there he traveled to Peru and then finally to Cuba. The Spanish police considered that the convict had some support on the island.
In addition to being a preschool and primary education teacher, Ramos Soto was a former member of the extinct group In Maria and known in his hometown of Ourense for teaching music lessons and being active.
His inclusion on the list alongside ten other fugitives — there are known drug dealers, a murderer, a historic thief and several sex offenders — is, according to the fugitives section, a matter of “strategy.”