14ymedio, Havana, 27 February 2022 — Art curator Anamely Ramos has received the second refusal in less than two weeks to board an American Airlines plane bound for Havana in Miami. The Cuban authorities again vetoed this Sunday the inclusion of her name in the list of passengers, as the activist denounced on her Facebook account.
Ramos went to the airport this Sunday morning after having rescheduled the previous flight, from February 16, which she was not allowed to board. But this time the result was the same: the Havana authorities notified American Airlines that the passenger was not going to be admitted.
During a live broadcast, the curator, who is a member of the San Isidro Movement, showed the copy of the notification that the Cuban authorities sent to the US airline, in which her entry to the island is vetoed. Proof that “Cuba is the one that is not admitting me,” Ramos stressed.
The document shown bears the title “Notification to airlines of inadmissible passengers in national territory” and is signed by Lieutenant Colonel Néstor Morera, added the activist.
Ramos read the document during the broadcast: “The Cuban immigration authority is willing to cooperate by notifying passengers in advance that they will not be admitted to Cuba, in order to avoid inconveniences to the airline and the passenger, for which recommends not to board them,” reads the notification in its first part.
The text ends by warning that in the event of the traveler’s arrival, they “will be re-boarded on the same flight.”
This Saturday, the night before the flight, Ramos received a call from the regional director of American Airlines, Virginia Sánchez, who warned her that the company had already received a message from Havana that the curator was not going to be admitted.
“Despite that, I decided to go to the airport,” Ramos said in the video. In a meeting with company representatives, Ramos insisted until she obtained a copy of the notification that had been sent from Cuba.
Ramos entered the US with a tourist visa that expires in April and her residence on the island is valid because she has not spent more than 24 months abroad, as stipulated by the Immigration Law. The activist has repeatedly denied that she is going to request asylum to regularize her situation in the United States.
Since her entry to Cuba was denied the first time, Ramos has maintained a public protest in Miami that has attracted a lot of solidarity and generated a whole mobilization of activists among the exile, international organizations and US politicians.
Ramos believes that the Cuban authorities are carrying out a strategy that consists of arresting those they consider a threat, violating all their rights, or forcing them into exile; in addition to preventing those who are already outside from returning. Because of this, she always thought that it would be very difficult for her to return to the Island.
For its part, although the Cuban regime has not ruled on the ban on entering Cuba issued against her, Humberto López, host of Cuban Television and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, did so. The official spokesperson commented on a Facebook post by Ramos herself, including a link to the Cuban migration law and the mention of its article 24.1.
Specifically, the paragraph that indicates that the Cuban State can prevent the entry of anyone who organizes, stimulates, carries out or participates in “hostile actions against the political, economic and social foundations of the Cuban State.”
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