The woman made visible a phenomenon that is increasing: the exile of officials from the Island to the United States
14ymedio, Havana, 24 December 2024 — On May 30, days after sentencing four young Cubans to three and four years in prison for throwing Molotov cocktails at property owned by regime officials in November 2022 in Villa Clara, Judge Melody González Pedraza appeared in the United States. She arrived at Tampa Airport in Florida thanks to Humanitarian Parole; but there she was denied entry into the country and decided to request political asylum.
Since then, the judge has been waiting in prison for a ruling to obtain refugee status. Her militancy in the Communist Party and that decision, with which she snatched away years of freedom from four young people, earned her a place on the white-collar repressors list of the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba.
Last July, in an interview with Diario de Cuba, González Pedraza attempted to distance herself from the ruling and said she had received instructions from the president of the Provincial Court of Villa Clara and the president of the Security Chamber to condemn Andy Gabriel González Fuentes, Eddy Daniel Rodríguez Pérez, Luis Ernesto Medina Pedraza and Adain Barreiro Pérez for the crime of attack.
“But the order I received was that the evidence from the Prosecutor’s Office was sufficient and had more value. The provisional detention should be maintained and they should be punished.”
“They gave me precise instructions; I argued that the defense lawyers had presented a group of important evidence, especially witnesses. But the order I received was that the evidence from the prosecution was sufficient and had more value. The provisional detention should be maintained and they should be punished,” she declared. Following these statements, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights requested the acquittal of the young men, which was denied.
González Pedraza made visible a phenomenon that is on the rise: the exile of officials from the island to the United States. In the last year alone, at least 115 have entered the US. The figure was released last August by the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, which indicated that it has identified more than 1,000 people with histories of repression on the island who live in the United States.
Another case was that of Rosabel Roca Sampedro, the former prosecutor responsible for sentences of up to four and a half years in prison for “attack and contempt” for four protesters from Camagüey during the Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021.
Also on the list is Liván Fuentes Álvarez, president of the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power on the Isle of Youth between 2019 and 2022, who was denied entry by the United States immigration authorities last May after revoking his humanitarian parole. On social media, he showed himself to be a staunch defender of the regime, as evidenced by official images alongside President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
A more recent case was that of Manuel Menéndez Castellanos, former first secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos, who was “coordinator of the Coordination and Support Team of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro.” Last August, he managed to enter the United States. He arrived at Miami International Airport – seeking to go unnoticed – in a wheelchair, wearing a mask and a cap.
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