Two vendors from whom Martinho Ramos Soto usually bought fruits and food saw everything on the corner: a patrol including three immigration agents from the Cuban police, dressed in green, knocked on the door of his apartment, and shortly after, they came down with … He had the bags in his hand to put him in the car. Thus, a five-month escape and a quiet life in Cuba were aborted, which the fugitive wanted to culminate in a paid marriage of convenience to quickly regularize his situation on the island.
In July, Martinho did his best to avoid serving the more than 13-year prison sentence imposed by the Ourense Regional Court for sadistically raping an underage student for years. From then until Friday, November 21, when he was arrested, the professor tried to live a life in Havana “as discreet as possible,” according to sources from the Spanish Interpol. He pretended to be a businessman who was there to “disconnect” for a while. However, under this mask, there were positions that attracted attention in the circles in which he was moving.
Suspicious situations
That wasn’t the case with the sellers who saw him, for the last time, getting into a police car that Friday. They described Martinho as a “very nice and quiet” person who used to go with his camera to a park near the apartment he rented in the El Vedado neighborhood of Havana, Camila Acosta reported. However, the testimonies of people who knew him closely indicate ways of behaving that aroused suspicion among the groups he frequented.
Iri Lazara Goytizolo Rodríguez, the Cuban writer and visual artist, met him in October during a poetry competition at the Nodo Habana Cultural Center, which is frequented by artists. The “Spaniards”, like many others, were there taking pictures of those who were reciting. The next day, Iri returned to Nodo Habana with a friend, and while at a bar, Martino approached them. He took a photo of them and talked to them: “He told me that he saw me at the previous event, and that he liked my hair and the music I make,” he explains to ABC in a chat on social networks. Martinho asked his email and Instagram account to send him photos: “Send me a photo from that day and just one photo from the day before.”
One of the pictures Martino took of the two girls
They met again a few weeks later, in November, at a group photography exhibition. There he insisted on going for a drink and invited them to a listening session for the album that Rosalía had just released. But there was something strange about it all: “He was overly concerned about us, and he had just met me,” Eri says. Martinho “acted like a teenager, trying to blend in with groups of young people.” The girls he went to events with were in their 20s, while he was actually about 50 years old.
With one eye
When all this happened, between October and November, the Cuban National Revolutionary Police had already taken control of Martinho, Spanish Interpol sources explained to ABC. After the National Police Fugitive Unit discovered the circuitous air route that the fugitive followed from Ourense as a diversionary maneuver – Portugal, Brazil, Peru and Cuba – everything pointed to him hiding on the island. While his arrest documents were being processed between Spain and Cuban authorities, agents did not take their eyes off him to prevent him from leaving the Caribbean country.
The arrest was reportedly made on November 21. How did he react? Interpol sources added: “He maintains a peaceful stance, but appears surprised, saying it must be a mistake.” He did not admit that he had a suspended sentence for repeatedly raping a high school student until after agents took him to the police station — at that moment when corner vendors saw him dropping off their bags. The arrest was expedited, according to the same sources, because investigators realized that he was “taking steps” to quickly pay for a marriage of convenience and obtain a residence permit in Cuba.
Another photo taken by Martinho
Reaching this Caribbean country – to which Spain has no extradition framework agreement, although this would not prevent his surrender – was Martinho’s goal when he began his escape. The Fugitive Unit agents’ intuition did not disappoint when they took over the investigation: as a resident of Ourense, he had likely fled via Portugal. And so it was. In cooperation with their Portuguese counterparts, police discovered that he had boarded a flight from Lisbon to Brazil. From there he went to Lima, and from the Peruvian capital to Havana. Investigators, they tell ABC, are clear that their plan was always to get to Cuba. The suspensions, all of which lasted only a few days, were intended only to mislead.
Open your Instagram profile
All these maneuvers led to the invention of a life in Havana, in which, as we mentioned, many gaps appeared. The prudence he showed in some matters was ignored in others, especially on the networks, where he opened an account on Instagram – which was active until a few days ago – in which he published part of the pictures he took of models and artists on various occasions. It was an open profile, with public access, although he camouflaged his identity a bit, translating his name into Spanish and resorting to his second surname: Martin Soto. With this name he also introduced himself in the circles he frequented in the city.
Despite the escape and new life he tried to build in Cuba, Martinho will sooner or later be extradited to the Spanish courts to serve the more than 13-year prison sentence to which he was sentenced. In July 2024, the Regional Court of Ourense considered it proven that this music teacher, who was active in the In Maria political party, had repeatedly raped a female student aged between 12 and 16 years. He did so in a sadistic manner, according to an order later issued by the Supreme Court of Zosteza in Galicia (TSXG). He contacted her anonymously on Instagram. Now, after her arrest, both the young woman – now of legal age – and her family can begin to see a little light.