After 24 hours of uncertainty at the San Salvador airport, where they arrived “fleeing from terror” in Cuba, independent journalists Esteban Rodríguez and Héctor Luis Valdés have been admitted to the Central American country, “while they are given humanitarian assistance and their immigration situation is resolved.” according to local authorities.
The two Cubans were interviewed by the director of the Department of Migration, Ricardo Cucalón, in the presence of the human rights attorney, Apolonio Tobar. They have left the International Airport to go to the capital, where “they will be supported with accommodation and food.”
Tobar had declared at the San Salvador airport to the German television station Deutsche Welle that they had activated “the bodies of government institutions” to bring the activists food and added that he would talk with them to find out “what is the situation and what is their destination”.
“We have been stranded here for more than 36 hours at the San Salvador airport after the Nicaraguan regime denied us entry to their country,” he told the local newspaper. The world after leaving the Valdés Cocho air terminal, who thanked President Nayib Bukele for his intention to help them and the Department of Migration for the “treatment of excellence.”
Esteban Rodríguez, for his part, told reporters that he was in the Combinado del Este prison and that he was taken from there “to be expelled from Cuba.” “They have forced me to leave the country,” he said, “for wanting to think differently, for wanting to practice independent journalism.”
“I had been under torture for eight months, in dark places, I was under threat of death all the time,” denounced Rodríguez, who assured that he still had the marks of the handcuffs with which he had been transferred to the airport directly from the prison.
Valdés Cocho explained that “several NGOs” helped him “pay for the passage” and thus “achieve the release (of Esteban) since State Security constantly threatened to leave him suffering harassment in the Combinado del Este.”
“We don’t even know what legal status we have, we have requested help and we have received it,” he said.
“They have forced me to leave the country,” he said, “for wanting to think differently, for wanting to practice independent journalism.”
This morning, Valdés Cocho published a post on Facebook reporting that he and Rodríguez had been forced “to make the decision to leave” the country “bound for Nicaragua,” although he added that their intention was to stay there for a few days to end up landing at the place where many Cubans arrive “fleeing of terror perpetuated by a totalitarian system. “
However, according to their testimony, the route had a stopover at the Tocumen airport (Panama), from where they had to fly to El Salvador before continuing to Managua. It was at that point, upon arriving at the San Salvador airport, when they were called by the loudspeaker to inform them that Nicaragua, governed by a partner of the Cuban regime, Daniel Ortega, was rejecting them.
Valdés Cocho also said that State Security transferred both of them to the airport and told them that they were expelled and that they could never return to Cuba.
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