“Life goes on. We all make mistakes,” the woman declared from her residence in Havana.
14ymedio, Havana, 13 April 2025 — Former Cuban judge Juana Orquídea Acanda Rodríguez lived in the United States for only 21 days, “under the conditions that were,” after being detained at Miami airport. Accused of lying in her family reunification interview about her affiliation with the Communist Party (PCC), the jurist was deported to the island this Saturday.
In a brief phone call from her residence in Havana, the 62-year-old former judge told journalist Mario J. Pentón her reaction after being returned to the country. Accompanied by her partner, she said she was “calm.” “I arrived in Cuba today. I’m fine; I don’t feel bad or good. I think I had an experience. Having experiences is a good thing, and I lived for at least 21 days—under the conditions they were—in the United States. I didn’t know anything about it. It’s something I learned,” she told the reporter.
Asked about her false statement to US immigration authorities, to whom she claimed she had no ties to the Cuban Communist Party (CCP) during the consular interview, Acanda replied: “It doesn’t matter, men make mistakes.” According to the retiree, she has always led a “dignified life.”
“Life goes on. We all make mistakes. We all have the right to make them. I am a humble woman,” she concluded.
Acanda was intercepted on March 20 by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents upon arrival at Miami International Airport. For U.S. authorities, any ties to the Cuban Communist Party, the judicial system, or law enforcement can be considered a critical factor in evaluating visa, asylum, or residency applications from Cuban citizens.
“The former judge appears in several Matanzas media outlets, in articles covering galas, ceremonies and decorations, many of them in her honor.”
Despite having worked for more than three decades in the island’s courts, Acanda erased her past as a civil servant, and in fact, no profiles with her name can be found on social media.
However, the former judge appears in several Matanzas media outlets, in articles covering galas, ceremonies, and awards, many of them in her honor. In one of those reports where she is mentioned, it reads: “Perhaps retirement will keep her, so to speak, away from the courts, but in her mind and heart, Orquídea will always be a judge.”
A similar case, though it hasn’t resulted in deportation, is that of Cuban judge Melody González Pedraza, who arrived under the Humanitarian Parole Program but was detained at a U.S. airport after her history of repression was revealed. The former official had convicted four ’11J’ protesters in Cuba.
At the beginning of April, the case of Misael Enamorado Dager, former first secretary of the PCC in Santiago de Cuba, who self-deported from the United States to Cuba at the end of last March, also became known.
The former official returned to the island with his family after arriving in the United States approximately a year ago through the Humanitarian Parole Program.
According to Pentón’s report, the former official returned to the island with his family after arriving in the United States approximately a year ago through the Humanitarian Parole Program.
“The former communist official made the voluntary decision to return to Cuba after receiving multiple legal notifications and increased public scrutiny,” the journalist explained at the time. Pressure on Enamorado had intensified after Republican Congressman Carlos Giménez included his name on a list of 100 Cuban oppressors who were to be deported to the island.
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