Cuban Trans Man Reportedly Dies in Police Custody

According to several websites for Cuban expatriates (including Cuba Encuentro), a transgender man arrested during a raid of "homosexuals, transvestites, and transsexuals in Old Havana" died while in police custody.

On September 8, after repeated warnings to police that he had hypertension, Nelson Linares Garcia, 34, succumbed to what doctors called "respiratory arrest." Penultimos Dias reports that no autopsy was conducted.

As the fight for LGBT rights in Cuba heats up, so does police harassment, say gay Cuban blogs.

In a recent interview with the Havana Times, Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban president Raul Castro, said "the prejudices of Cuban society" are what is stymieing progress on LGBT rights, that "obstacles exist because prejudices dominate institutional decisions here."

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