Enrique Díaz planned to make a stopover in El Salvador, but Nicaragua, his final destination, denied him entry
14ymedio, Havana, 3 November 2024 — Cuban journalist Enrique Díaz Rodríguez and his family, who were stranded on November 1 at Lima airport (Peru) after Nicaragua denied them entry, “will not be returned to Cuba.” According to the Press and Society Institute (IPYS), on Saturday, the reporter formalized the asylum request, which is already “in process.”
The CubaNet collaborator said that Migraciones de Lima told him that it had no responsibility for his case and, given Nicaragua’s refusal, “he had to coordinate with the LATAM airline, which brought him to Peru, for his return to Cuba.” However, IPYS later clarified that it was “the airline that transported them and not Migration that indicated that they should return to the Island.”
Díaz Rodríguez and his family boarded a flight that would make a stopover in Peru, then head to El Salvador and Nicaragua. From that point, they would cross by land through Honduras and Guatemala, enter Mexico through Chiapas and reach the southern border of the United States.
The Peruvian National Superintendence of Migration specified that the journalist was not assisted by its staff because “being a connecting flight to El Salvador, it is not up to Migration to carry out immigration control, since this procedure is carried out only for those who enter our country.”
According to the agency, “upon arriving at Jorge Chávez International Airport, the journalist went to the boarding area for his Avianca connecting flight, and at that moment the airline informed him that he could not board.”
Díaz Rodríguez’s departure was “conditioned” by “intimidation of State Security,” which knew that the reporter had purchased plane tickets. “He was cited and pressured with the situation of his 18-year-old son for failing to comply with Military Service,” Cubalex reported on its social networks.
The regime warned the journalist that “they would lift his immigration restriction and exempt his son from military service” as long as he did not return to Cuba, emphasizing that “they hoped he had no intention of returning.”
Díaz Rodríguez left Havana last Friday after receiving the ultimatum. “In Cuba they told me that either I go or I stay and face the consequences,” he told the newspaper El Tiempo.
The journalist is accompanied by his wife, the Lady in White Lismeirys Quintana Ávila; his children Melanie Ly and Pedro Enrique; his son-in-law Yoxiet Dariel Rizo Almas; and his grandson Iván Daniel Rizo Díaz, barely three years old.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
