Ángel Salinas – Page 6 – Translating Cuba

Nine Cubans Seeking Political Asylum in the EU Get Caught Up in Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

The migrants have been held since January 6 at the migration center located in Nikolayev, Ukraine. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 4 March 2022 — Early this Thursday morning, at 3:45 a.m. “the explosion of a bomb woke us up,” Diosdeny Santana told 14ymedio. “Here it is already afternoon and the whole day we have heard bombings.” This activist from the opposition Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu) has been held since January 6 along with eight other Cubans in the migration center located in Nikolayev, Ukraine.

On February 24, just the day they were going to be transferred to Serbia to continue their journey in search of “political asylum in Italy, Spain or Germany,” Russia began the military deployment against Ukraine. “The war has caught us here,” says this 37-year-old Cuban. “Civil aviation is stopped dead and there is no transport,” the authorities have informed them.

“We know that there is a military attack and that it is Russian,” explains Santana, who has sent América TeVé and Telemundo videos with fighter planes flying over and bombing near the place where they are. “What we hear, from what little we understand, is that this place is surrounded by Russians.”

On last Wednesday, Russian troops increased the pressure on the siege on Mariupol, a strategic city located in the Donetsk region and bathed by the coast of the Sea of Azov, as is the case with Nikolayev, while they already control Melitopol, in the region of Zaporozhie, published EFE. continue reading

“We trust that some government will listen to us and help us leave, the Cuban exile in Miami, human rights,” implores Santana, who on October 27, 2021, left the island via Moscow, because “I couldn’t travel to the United States because of the covid problem in Cuba.”

The group, made up of José Antonio González Corralez, Luis Arberto González Pérez, Yosiel Hernández Ramírez, Luis Miguel Reyes Romero, Raicel Sedeño, Iris Dali Tobal, María Fernanda and Rannelys Trujillo Gort, is gripped by fear and nerves, says the activist. “We have the suitcase packed, because we have to run to the tunnel every time a siren is heard.”

José Antonio González, who emigrated the same day as Santana, tells 14ymedio that after entering Ukraine they were “detained by the border guard in Kharkov, the country’s second largest city, because fatigue and the cold got the best of us. In the end After seven days we went on trial and each one of us was fined 400 dollars.”

The nine migrants, González explains, were taken to a second trial where a translator was assigned to them. They warned them not to ask for political asylum during this process, “that this would be in the refuge they would send us to later” and in which they would have a lawyer.

Originally from Pinar del Río, this 36-year-old Cuban says that this Friday they sent a letter to Amnesty International and another human rights organization. “They have just informed us that there is a truce,” he says, referring to the humanitarian corridors agreed by Moscow and Kiev in the negotiations, “but they do not know how long it will last. At any moment they start attacking and this turns into hell. We fear for our lives. We want them to help us get out and we continue on our way.”

González left the island months after having participated in the demonstrations of July 11 and before the police siege. “We are good people. We are not murderers, if we leave Cuba it is because of the regime.”

The activist Diosdeny Santana, who has been in prison for expressing his opposition to a government that for “62 years has been destroying its people,” points out that Cubans do not emigrate for pleasure. “On July 11, people took to the streets demanding freedom, homeland and life. And the dictatorship sent out its people to repress them.”

That way of showing itself as a repressive dictatorship, Santana assures, is the same that it has exhibited before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “This is terrible. Maduro in Venezuela, Ortega in Nicaragua and Cuba are on Putin’s side.”

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Cuban Baseball Player Spends the ‘Saddest Night Of His Life’ With His Family in a Kiev Shelter

Raidel Arbelay Becerra spent this Thursday with his family, his wife and two children, in a shelter near Kiev. (Raidel Arbelay)

14ymedio, Angel Salinas, Mexico, 25 February 2022 — Cuban Raidel Arbelay Becerra spent “the saddest night of his life” in Kiev with his family, his wife and two children, he tells 14ymedio. This Thursday, while reporting on the presence of Russian troops in the Ukrainian capital and the bombing, a drone was shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force. The aircraft “fell 70 meters from our house and we made the decision to flee.”

Arbelay heard on the news that in the first 24 hours the Russian military deployment caused the death of 137 Ukrainians. “War has neither friends nor winners, only losers, families in mourning, mothers without children and much more,” he stresses.

The athlete arrived in Ukraine in 1996, where he met several Cubans — at least 70 are in Kiev — and “right now we are all tense because it is expected that this Friday night the city will be attacked by the Russian aggressor.” He knows that some migrants have sought refuge in the capital’s suburbs; and others, like him and his family, in the basements of houses. continue reading

Through Ukraine’s presidential spokesman, Sergei Nikiforov, Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed that they agreed to hold negotiations on the ceasefire and peace, according to RT. “There is a lot of misinformation,” says Arbelay. “This Friday we hope to leave for the area where they are not bombing.” The athlete’s plans do not change, he seeks to reach the border with Poland with his family.

In this conflict, the Cuban authorities have reiterated their support for Russia in the official media. “I am ashamed of the Government of my country”, expresses an annoyed Arbelay. He does not understand why the island supported “the decision of the Russian president to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk.”

The Cubans who are in Kiev, the player insists, have not received assistance or support to transfer them to safe areas. “The embassy hates us.” The situation at the moment is difficult, but we try to “stay very close.”

Arbelay’s children have spent an uneasy night. “They don’t understand much about the reason for this war.” The calls received by people who share the shelter in a friend’s house, confirm “shots and explosions in Oblon,” a residential neighborhood of Kiev, in addition to “battles in Dymer and Ivankiv.”

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Caribbean Mexican Authorities Are Alerted About More Cubans Arriving by Boat

Photo of the boat abandoned on the beach known as The Secret, on the Mayan Riviera. (Facebook/Quintana Roo Panorama)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 16 February 2022 — Authorities from the states of Yucatán and Quintana Roo were advised by the National Migration Institute (NMI) of the arrival of Cuban balseros [rafters] to the Mexican Caribbean. Last Wednesday, a boat was abandoned on the beach known as “The Secret” on the Mayan Riviera.

The Secret beach is 30 miles south of Cancún, so the “crew had to have help leaving the place in vehicles,” Raúl Tassinari, the police chief, told 14ymedio. “They had adapted a car engine, and we even found containers of gasoline and clothing.”

The discovery of the arrival took place the same day that representatives of the National Migration Institute (NMI) had a meeting with personnel from the Cuban Consulate in Cancún, in which they talked about cooperation and coordination in respect to migratory matters. Tassarini reported that in February alone they had reports of three events related to Cuban rafters.

“The Navy was informed of the vessel so that it could be secured, and the port captain and Immigration were also notified,” emphasizes the officer, who doesn’t rule out the deployment in the coming days of elements of the National Guard and the Army to stop the entry of migrants through Quintana Roo.

According to figures from the NMI, the state of Quintana Roo has become a route for the illegal entry of Cubans in recent years. Between October and December 2021, 29 rafters who arrived at Isla Mujeres were detained. Of 60 Cubans detained in that same year, 45 were deported and 15 received legal advice to obtain refuge. continue reading

The boat used by Cuban rafters is found abandoned on the eastern coast of the island area of Isla Mujeres and serves as a tourist attraction.

On February 12, another boat was abandoned on the eastern coast of the island area of Isla Mujeres, at the height of the Colegio de Bachilleres. The state police confirmed to this newspaper that the migrants “got into a truck, so the surveillance cameras are already being checked.” The island’s natives left medicines, 200-liter drums, canned food in bags, as well as men’s and women’s clothing on the raft.

Ten days earlier, personnel assigned to the Fifth Naval Region rescued seven Cuban rafters, who were shipwrecked 43 nautical miles northeast of Isla Contoy. The migrants were transferred to the Puerto Juárez naval station. A Migration source indicates that this group would be deported.

Last January, members of the Navy in the city of Cancún detained seven Cubans on the boulevard near the Plaza Kukulcán shopping center, after the undocumented immigrants were captured by the video surveillance cameras of the C5 Security Complex. The alert of the arrival of rafters was also extended to the state of Yucatan, confirmed the Mayan Riviera official.

Collaborate with our work: The 14ymedio team is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the profound reality of Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time by becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Group of Cubans Denounce Scammer Who Offers Visas and Entry to United States for $6,000

Image of Cuban and Venezuelan migrants in a shelter in the Mexican state of NL. (Collage)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 13 January 2022 — “It’s a scam,” Facebook users warned Roberto when he asked how reliable the announcement that Andrés Ramiro Naranjo Pardo uploaded to social networks might be, in which he offered to cross migrants to the United States. “I’ll pass you to the US with ’parole’* included,” read this Cuban who is together with his wife in the Mexican state of Baja California.

“Don’t believe anything,” Internet user Ana María warned him. “He has several profiles and mobile numbers. He is a fraud.” Ana María shared her case with 14ymedio: “When you’re desperate to leave Cuba, you look for the ways and this guy knew how to deceive us. He sold a family member an appointment at the embassy. It was all a lie. I don’t know how we believed.”

Naranjo, who presented himself as a native of Havana, made two deposits of $3,000 to the BanCoppel account 4169160813668085. “When we looked for him to make a demand he wanted more money. He is a very skilled scammer,” warns Ana María. continue reading

Yanet, another of the scammers, was contacted by the same scammer through the same social network. He introduced himself as Andrés Naranjo and said he worked at the National Migration Institute (INM). He offered to transfer her to Mexico from Guyana, where she works in a hospital.

For the paperwork, Naranjo asked Yanet for $5,000. “It is very difficult to leave this way, there is a lot of jungle and dangers, that’s why I shared his name in a group of Cubans, and a girl alerted me to this guy and others asked me not to do any business” with him.

The person identified as Andrés Ramiro Naranjo Pardo has at least 20 profiles on Facebook. In some he appears as a naturalized Mexican, in others as a lawyer, teacher, referee and even soccer coach. In March 2021, he stated that every weekend he shared barbecues with technical directors of Mexican soccer: “Miguel Herrera, José el Profe Cruz, Rafael Puente (the son), Francisco el Gatillero Palencia.”

A migration source tells this newspaper that the people who have been victims of this trickster “are innocent” by sending money without guarantees. “They can flood the networks with accusations, the unfortunate thing is that this subject is laughing because he knows that we cannot act against him. Mexico does not sell visas. The way he has stolen them is even childish.”

In October, a Facebook user identified as Sombra de Luz denounced Naranjo in the group Foreigners in Mexico. “He is an unscrupulous thief,” they stressed, saying that every time he scams he changes his phone number and profile. “He is discrediting the Mexican embassy in Havana by saying that he has contacts there and that he can get a visa in Cuba for Mexico.”

Over time, in another Facebook group, Anielis Torres exposed Naranjo as “a scammer” who even offered “apartment rentals and offered work to women.” He scammed the woman from Sancti Spiritus with the promise of giving her documents to process her visa. “Today, before 10 pm they are delivered to me, we stay late-night, can’t eat yearnings, thanks and greetings,” was one of the last messages received before he disappeared.

Internet user David AlBaqq shared another of Naranjo’s announcements on the networks on December 4, in which he asked “truly interested people” to send him 10% of the cost of the $6,000 visa to a Banco Azteca account. “The rest of the money is paid after being authorized by the Mexican consul in Havana.”

Currently, Andrés Ramiro Naranjo Pardo appears on social networks as a retired worker from the Petróleos Mexicanos company. And now he guarantees through social networks the crossing to the United States through the Mexicali Centro port of entry, in Baja California, a border state with the United States. He even promises to take the migrants “to the door of your house in Miami or whatever city in the United States where your relatives live.”

For years, Cubans in their desperation to leave the Island, have been victims of scams, extortion, kidnapping and even rape. In October 2021, this newspaper received the testimony of several migrants who were victims of rape during their journey through Darien. Ana, a 45-year-old Cuban told Doctors Without Borders her bitter experience. She, along with other migrants, were threatened with guns. The women were not searched, they were taken directly to the top of the slope and raped.

*Translator’s note: In this context “parole” means legal entry.

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Cubans Pay up to $4,000 to Cross from Guatemala to the Mexican State of Veracruz

At the Casa del Migrante La Divina Providencia there are currently three Cubans and 39 other migrants. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 9 December 2021 — The Grijalva River has become one of the routes most exploited in recent months by coyotes to pass migrants from the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, in western Guatemala, to Tenosique, in the Mexican state of Tabasco. Cuban Ernesto Rodríguez told 14ymedio that this is how he crossed in a boat with his wife, his son and 15 other foreigners on November 18.

The group got together on the 17th, he says. “We were in a room without light, we only heard that the route was ’hot’ and that the sailors were already leaving.” Rodríguez, who paid 1,600 dollars to the coyotes to get him to Mexico, says that for getting him to Veracruz they “asked him for 4,000 dollars.’’ Some did pay it. Migrants are taking this route to avoid entering Chiapas, where thousands of Haitians are creating chaos.

The same coyote that left them in Tenosique contacted a truck driver who took them hidden among the load of bananas that he transported to the state of Nuevo León. “On the 20th he left us in a room and only charged us $60, but we soon left for fear of being arrested.” continue reading

The humanitarian visa was processed in Coahuila. “As everything was getting ugly, we left there and traveled until we reached Sonora.” Originally from Holguín, Rodríguez left this Thursday from the La Divina Providencia refuge, located in San Luis Río Colorado, in the state of Sonora which borders the United States, heading towards the immigration station located in the same town, to request information about his wife and his son, who on Sunday were detained by immigration police while he was buying food.

“The humanitarian visa arrived late. With the Stay in Mexico everything was complicated. What I want is that my family gets out,” he explains. The program implemented during the government of Donald Trump — questioned for putting migrants and refugees in danger — was the way for the United States to send 13,000 asylum seekers there, according to a source from the Mexican Foreign Ministry. Since this Monday, it began to be implemented again in cities bordering Texas, Arizona and California.

Given the return of Stay in Mexico, the shelters located in the border area of Sonora are full, “since due to the pandemic we cannot receive more than 42 people,” says Sara Sánchez, who works with the La Divina Providencia refuge. “They are given accommodation for three days. Right now we are full and we had to channel 14 Haitians from the caravan that arrived on Wednesday.”

The Cubans Aledmys and Raúl are also in the refuge. The first also hopes to hear from his family, which was picked up during a detention, and he, to avoid being detained, filled out a form requesting refuge. According to the latest statistics published by the National Commission for Refugees of Mexico (Comar), as of November 30, 8,148 Cubans had requested refuge and 2,538 have been approved. Many carry out the process in order to obtain a humanitarian visa to be able to travel through the country towards the northern border, cross into the United States and request asylum.

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