Cuban authorities announced on Monday the arrest of Martinho Ramos Soto, a pre-school and primary school teacher from Ourense, who was sentenced by the Supreme Court to 13 years and six months in prison for brutally assaulting and sexually assaulting one of his underage students for more than two years, as reported by EFE and confirmed by El Pais in police sources. The arrest, carried out by the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), came after the Ourense Regional Court issued an international arrest warrant on October 30 for his extradition after Spanish police discovered that he had been hiding on the Caribbean island for nearly four months. On Monday, the Ministry of Interior included the fugitive on the list of ten most wanted criminals, which was announced to request citizens’ cooperation in locating him.
The investigation that led to the arrest of Ramos (50 years old) began by the Fugitive Location Department after learning of his escape last summer. The pedophile – who was prominently active in the political movement “In Maria” – had been missing since shortly before the Supreme Court confirmed the prison sentence imposed on him by the Ourense Regional Court, which was later ratified by the Supreme Court of Justice of Galicia. Afterwards, agents were able to determine that the fugitive had taken a long flight with several stops through different countries in order to hide his final destination. To do this, he used his own passport, taking advantage that a search and arrest warrant had not yet been issued against him. Police described his departure from Spain as “highly planned”.
Specifically, he took advantage of the lack of control over the internal borders of Schengen Area countries to travel from Spain to Portugal by land. Once in this country, he took a flight to Brazil, and from there, another flight to Peru. Later, he went to Cuba, a country that does not have an extradition agreement with Madrid and where he received support from third parties, according to police sources.
Ramos’ presence on the island became public when he began posting photos on an Instagram account he had opened under the name Martín Soto (his Spanish first name and his mother’s surname). In the profile photo, which he kept open all this time, the now-captured rapist was fully identified. According to the 51 posts he made on this social network, he was working in Cuba as a photographer, moving between art galleries and fashion shows.
After locating him, the Spanish police asked their Cuban colleagues to subject Ramos to tight surveillance to prevent his escape while the international arrest warrant was being processed. Once that happens, the next step is to manage his extradition which, according to internal sources, will be “more arduous” due to the lack of an agreement between the two countries, but is possible.
Ramos was the victim’s music teacher in a public school from the time the little girl entered early childhood education at the age of three until the end of elementary school. In sixth grade, he contacted her on Instagram pretending to be another minor, and, aware of her family problems and vulnerability, introduced himself to her as a “caring and support figure” (known as Baby grooming). One day, the pedophile met his student in her school classroom and revealed to her that he was actually hiding behind her Instagram profile.
The girl recounted how the man who was already in detention brutally manipulated her, attacked her and raped her. The immense mental anguish it caused her led to her self-harm and she was hospitalized for psychological issues. The judicial investigation showed that the teacher contacted a larger number of students from the school via the same social networking network with identical deception, although in these cases he was not able to assault them, even though in the messages he sent them he made sexual statements of a sadistic nature. The minor informed in 2021 that, during the four years that the judicial process lasted, the Public Prosecution did not at any time request that she be placed in temporary prison, which is why she was free when the Supreme Court ruling was announced.