Fernando Armando Valdés Pérez, now designated as a spy, was very close to Luis Posada Carriles.
EFE/14ymedio, Miami, September 3, 2026 – The United States deported Fernando Armando Valdés Pérez to Cuba, identified by the authorities as a Cuban intelligence agent tasked with infiltrating communities of exiles and dissidents in the United States and Latin America since the mid-1990s.
Valdés Pérez, 61 years old, was arrested on July 10 at the Miami International Airport during a migration control operation, according to a statement this Wednesday from the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE).
According to the investigation, Valdés, who is also a Guatemalan citizen, was a Cuban intelligence agent whose mission was to infiltrate communities of Cuban exiles and dissidents and report on his activities, both in the United States and other countries in Latin America.
Authorities claim that Valdés gained the trust of the late anti-Castro dissident Luis Posada Carriles and maintained close proximity to other well-known Cuban and Cuban-American figures in southern Florida until his arrest.
He maintained close proximity to other well-known Cuban and Cuban-American figures in southern Florida until his arrest
According to the Miami Herald, the proximity of Posada Carriles and Valdés was so great that he was quoted by the newspaper when the first died. “I spoke with him yesterday and felt he was strong,” Valdés declared to the media. Valdés also organized the last birthday party of the opponent.
Investigators have determined that Valdés deliberately hid his ties to the Cuban regime when he applied for and obtained legal permanent residence in the US, thereby knowingly deceiving US immigration officials, according to authorities.
“Individuals who hide their links with foreign intelligence services and take advantage of our immigration system pose a serious threat to the integrity of that system and to our national security”, the director of ICE’s Miami Enforcement and Clearance Operations (ERO) office, Matthew Elliston, said in a statement.
After his arrest, which also involved the FBI and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Valdés was prosecuted and placed in deportation procedures before being deported from the United States on August 7.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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