Evilio Ordonez holds Cuban and American flags during a protest against President Barack Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba, Saturday, Dec, 20, 2014, in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
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After a U.S. citizen is beaten along with a Cuban dissident in Panama, State Dept. tweets that it is 'concerned
April 09, 2015
The State Department on Thursday put out a tweet — but no formal statement — that said it's "deeply concerned" about an episode Wednesday in which at least a few U.S. citizens and Cuban dissidents were beaten in Panama City, Panama, apparently by agents of the Castro regime in Cuba.
Orlando Gutierrez, an American, and Jorge Luis Garcia Pérez, a Cuban dissident known as Antúnez, were beaten after participating in a pro-democracy event in Panama, just a day before the Summit of the Americas was set to start. President Barack Obama will be in Panama starting Thursday for the summit.
Antúnez was a guest of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) at this year's State of the Union address.
A video shows the two men and others being attacked as they tried to leave the scene in a vehicle:
As of late Thursday morning, the State Department's only response was a quick tweet sent out by Acting spokeswoman Marie Harf. But that tweet didn't mention anyone by name, or the fact that a few U.S. citizens were involved.
.@marieharf: We are deeply concerned by reports of attacks targeting civil society representatives in #Panama for Summit of the Americas.
— Department of State (@StateDept) April 9, 2015
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) issued a statement Wednesday condemning the attack, and reiterated her opposition to the attack by "Castro regime thugs" again on Thursday:
I condemn the brutal attacks against Cubans + Americans in #Panama by #Castro regime thugs. @PeteKTheBlaze @theblaze https://t.co/IAwGdYE8ev
— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) April 9, 2015
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