Dissidents locals van insistir que la policia l'havia pegat, mentre el govern mantenia que Soto havia patit una "pancreatitis aguda" que "va comportar la fallada múltiple d'òrgans" i deia que les denúncies eren una 'campanya de deprestigi' amb el propòsit de debilitar la revolució cubana.
Local dissidents insisted that he had been beaten by police, while the government maintained that Soto's “acute pancreatitis…led to multiple organ failure”, even calling the allegations of police brutality a “'smear campaign' aimed at weakening the Cuban revolution.”