“If they deport him, what future will he have in Cuba?” said Heriberto Rivero Carrera’s partner.
14ymedio, Havana, 20 June 2025 — Uncertainty reigns in the family of Cuban judoka Heriberto Rivero Carrera, who deserted in 2022 in Mexico. The 29-year-old was arrested last Friday after attending the preliminary asylum court in Miami, and his family fears he will be deported. “The judge didn’t even want to listen to him,” the athlete’s mother told Univision. “They didn’t give him a chance to explain himself, and immigration immediately detained him and took him away”.
Rivero entered US territory three years ago through the border with Mexico. The authorities issued him a Form I-220A, an “order of provisional release” on parole. However, the document is not recognized by Migration as a legal entry, and in the case of the judoka, he could not apply for the benefit of the Cuban Adjustment Law after one year and one day in the country.
The mother of the national judo medalist fears for his safety, as “everyone knows what it means to desert a national team.” The regime considers it a “serious indiscipline,” and athletes are added to the list of “traitors” and “worms” who are prevented from entering Cuba for eight years.
Rivero’s wife, who is four months pregnant, warned about the possibility of the regime accepting his deportation, but “if he is deported, what future will he have in Cuba ?” The woman warned that as part of the harassment, “they are not going to give him work anywhere, nothing,” and he runs the risk of being ’disappeared’.”
“The judge didn’t even want to listen to him,” the athlete’s mother told Univision. “They didn’t give him a chance to explain himself, and immigration immediately detained him and took him away”
In the US, Rivero has a clean record. Although he has tried to continue in the sport, his most recent competition was in 2023, when he won gold at the US Open in Fort Lauderdale as part of the Mambí judo club.
Last May, lawyer Ismael Labrador acknowledged that “at the present time, Migration is looking for any loophole in the law to be able to detain him.” In an interview with journalist Mario J. Pentón, the lawyer acknowledged that there are ways to get ahead of the “new wave of persecution.”.
“We know that this is definitely a terrible violation of due process and the rights to have a hearing and represent yourself in court.”
However, arrests continue to be reported. Last Tuesday Didie Espinoza, a Cuban with Form I-220A, was arrested by agents of the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) on his exit from the courtroom in Miami.
“They don’t care that you have asylum; it doesn’t mean anything to them. It’s random,” Daysi Salvador, the Cuban couple, told Univision. “I have videos in which they (ICE) have a sheet with certain names and are waiting for you,” the woman said. “When I arrived there was no one, but then they send them up. There were six in the elevator; I’m in the waiting room, and they are there hoping to cross you off the list.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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