Another Cuban involved in the case was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
MIAMI, United States. – Two Cuban residents in the United States were sentenced to decades in prison for being part of a human trafficking network that operated between Cuba, southern Florida and Louisiana, in which they kidnapped, beat and extorted migrants illegally introduced from the Island, according to the sentences handed down by Federal Judge Roy K. Altmanof the Southern District of Florida.
On September 18, Altman sentenced Osmel Benítez (Cuban), 40 years old and resident in Miami, to 34 years in prison, and Víctor Manuel Pérez Cárdenas (Cuban), 39 years old and resident in Tampa, to 17 years, also in prison.
A week later, on September 25, the same judge sentenced Jhonny Walther Izaguirre López (Honduran), 45 years old and resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to almost 29 years in prison.
The Prosecutor’s Office described the case as one of the most brutal episodes of this crime in South Florida. “This was human trafficking in its most brutal form: marked by kidnapping, extortion and torture,” stated United States Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones, of the Southern District of Florida.
A network that started in Cuba and ended in a farm in Miami
According to the court documents cited by the Prosecutor’s Office, in May 2024 Benítez, Pérez Cárdenas and Izaguirre López conspired to kidnap migrants who had been illegally smuggled from Cuba into the United States.
On May 18, 2024, Pérez Cárdenas transported a group of migrants by boat to a deserted area of the coast in Key Largo. He was armed with a firearm and escorted the people to a nearby highway, where Benítez and other members of the organization were waiting for him in several vehicles to take them to Miami.
That same day, part of the migrants were transferred to a farm in the rural area of Miami. They were held there while the accused extorted money from their families and friends and demanded sums of money to release them, according to the official version.
Beatings, mock hangings and torture videos
The statement from the Prosecutor’s Office details that, on the farm, the victims suffered beatings with sticks and machetes, as well as simulated hangings and death threats.
In one of the documented episodes, Benítez and another accomplice forced one of the victims onto a chair, placed a rope around her neck as a noose, and hit her with the flat side of a machete. The attack was recorded on video and sent to the migrant’s relatives to force payment of the ransom.
According to the statement, Izaguirre López and other members of the network repeatedly called the families and friends of the kidnapped people and threatened to kill them or harm them if they did not send the demanded money.
The head of the FBI Miami office, Brett Skiles, called the conduct of the three defendants “violent” and “inhumane” to “almost beyond imagination.”
From Miami to Louisiana
When at least four of the migrants were unable to raise the required money, Benítez, Izaguirre López and other members of the organization agreed that they would transport those people to Louisiana. The objective, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, was to force them to work in Izaguirre López’s construction company as a way to “pay” the debt imposed by the network.
That plan did not materialize. On May 20, 2024, law enforcement officers intercepted the criminal’s vehicle on the Florida Turnpike in Sumter County while he was transporting migrants who had been subjected to kidnapping and extortion.
All three men pleaded guilty to the charge of “conspiracy to kidnap.” Additionally, Benítez and Izaguirre López admitted charges of “conspiracy to provide and obtain forced labor,” “violent crimes in furtherance of organized crime activities,” “conspiracy to possess a firearm,” and “exhibiting a weapon during a violent crime.”
Benítez and Pérez Cárdenas also pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to introduce, transport and hide migrants in United States territory,” while Izaguirre López accepted charges of “transportation of migrants within the United States.”
The statement from the Department of Justice specifies that Benítez and Pérez Cárdenas are Cuban citizens, while Izaguirre López is a Honduran citizen. All three will be subject to deportation once they serve their respective prison sentences.
The Prosecutor’s Office for the Southern District of Florida also identified three alleged co-conspirators who are still awaiting trial: Víctor Rafael Arcia Albeja, José Ángel Marrero Rodríguez and Yoelys Prada Ramos.
