Former members of the Cuban regime involved in the repression of dissidents on the island have abused the immigration system to come to the United States amid a large exodus from the island, activists from a Miami-based human rights group said Tuesday.
Cuban exile Tony Costa, director of the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, said in a news conference that the organization has built a database of 1,015 members of the Cuban regime who have surveilled, harassed, bullied and imprisoned dissidents, government critics and peaceful protesters. Of those, 115 are already living in the U.S., said Rolando Cartaya, one of the organization’s researchers.
According to the organization, former high-ranking Communist Party officials, members of the feared Cuban Interior Ministry, police officers, government lawyers and judges have recently arrived in the U.S. and have been identified on the website represorescubanos.com.
They are among the estimated 18% of Cuba’s population who have fled the island in recent years.
The arrival of former senior government officials and members of the state security service in the US is evidence of the economic crisis on the communist island and can be seen as a sign that the regime is failing to buy political loyalty.
But victims of Cuban government repression spoke at the press conference in personal terms about what they felt when they encountered some of their former tormentors in the United States.
“These people who oppressed and beat us live and enjoy freedom in this great country,” said Elixir Arando, who said two of the people identified by the foundation harassed him in so-called “acts of repudiation” against government critics when he lived in Cuba’s eastern Guantanamo province.
Journalist Roberto Quiñones, who was jailed by the Cuban government for reporting on a trial against a religious couple who wanted to homeschool their children, said a judge who rejected his appeal is also currently living in the United States.
Deserters from the Cuban government and military have been a common presence in Florida for years, but the people on the list compiled by the foundation have not distanced themselves from the Cuban government and could pose a “national security” threat to the United States, according to some victims at the event.
“These people are infiltrators of the Cuban government to influence public opinion, and they are going to vote to destabilize this country,” Arando said.
Cartaya said the foundation compiled the list by investigating tips from victims of repression. The victims must sign a notarized statement with the accusations.
Some of the people involved in the repression in Cuba have come to the country through legal migration routes. For example, a new parole program was set up by the Biden administration, but it is currently on hold due to allegations of fraud.
Santiago Alpizar, an immigration attorney who led a similar project to identify people living in the United States who were involved in suppressing dissent in Cuba, said the new parole program is often abused because those who benefit from it are not asked to report involvement in human rights abuses or membership in totalitarian parties when they apply to come to the U.S.
People involved in “oppressing the Cuban people” should be considered “inadmissible” under U.S. law, said Florida U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, who attended the news conference. Giménez added that he would share information gathered by the foundation with federal agencies for further investigation.
Giménez and other Florida Republicans complained to the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department for allowing the arrival of Manuel Menéndez Castellanos, a former member of the Cuban Communist Party central committee who flew to Miami earlier this month to join his family.
“If these people have been fighting for the regime for so long, they should stay in Cuba,” Giménez said. “We don’t need you here.”
