Cuba’s ‘Man With the Flag’ Continues to US After Detention in Columbia

“We are in Colombia now and we continue on our way to the United States, I will report as we go,” Llorente told ’14ymedio’. (Courtesy)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 1 June 2021 — Daniel Llorente Miranda, known as “the man with the flag” since, in 2017, he ran holding the United States banner in the Plaza of the Revolution during the May 1 parade, was released this Sunday in Caracas after spend nine days in detention, along with his son, for having entered Venezuela illegally.

Both were deported this weekend to the border with Colombia. “Everything is fine, we have already left Venezuela, we are in Colombia now and we continue on our way to the United States, I will report as we go,” Llorente told 14ymedio.

According to his account, on May 21 at around six in the afternoon when he arrived with his son at a hotel in Caracas where they planned to spend the night before continuing on their way, they were detained along with other Cubans by members of the Special Actions Forces (Faes).

“We were accompanied by two friends of ours who are also Venezuelan police officers and we had met them on the bus that went from Bolívar state to Caracas. Someone betrayed us, we believe it was the bus driver. It was State Security that one that stopped us at the hotel, then took us to the station.”

Llorente explains that in the police station they were treated well, “and with respect,” he added. “We were there until Monday the 24th when they transferred us to immigration and they left us there until Sunday the 30th, when we were released.”

The Cuban and his son Eliécer met up in December in Guyana where the opponent had resided since May 2019, when, according to his testimony, he had to leave Cuba due to “pressure” and “threats” from State Security.

The activist spent more than a year in Havana’s Mazorra Psychiatric Hospital. He was transferred to the medical center by the political police after crying out for “freedom for Cuba” while running with the US flag in his hands and the Cuban flag on his short, a few yard from the rostrum where then-President Raúl Castro was seated and in front of the accredited press and foreign guests.

Llorente, born in 1963m graduated in engineering in the former German Democratic Republic, and became popular for his activism after the diplomatic thaw between Havana and Washington.

____________

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.