MADRID, Spain.- Camouflaged under a sanitary mask, cap and a pink t-shirt, Manuel Menéndez Castellanos, former leader of the Cuban Communist Party, arrived this Thursday, August 15, at Miami.
Menéndez Castellanos, who was head of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos and a member of Fidel Castro’s coordination and support team, landed at Miami International Airport. There, he was surprised by the presence of Marti Newsa medium that documented his arrival. The former leader held key positions in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and was a deputy in the National Assembly. He received multiple decorations throughout his career, according to his official biography.
Menéndez Castellanos’ entry into the United States was carried out through a family reunification process, as confirmed Marti News. After waiting for several hours at the airport, he was admitted into the country, where a group of people, presumably family members, were waiting for him.
Menéndez Castellanos avoided answering questions from journalist Mario J. Pentón after confirming his identity. “I’m going home,” he said before trying to snatch the camera with which he was being filmed. Neither he nor his family gave any additional statements.
The former Cuban leader was linked to the regime in 1972 and was First Secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos between 1993 and 2003, being a key figure of Castroism.
This is not the first time that a regime repressor has managed to establish himself in the United States, a country to which thousands of Cubans emigrate fleeing the same policies that they represent.
Among the most recent cases is that of the former president of the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power on the Isle of Youth from 2012 to 2018 Arelys Casañola Quintana. Last May it became known that Casañola Quintana had settled in Kentucky after asking political asylum on April 20, 2024 in the US, through the application CBPOnein which he claimed “fear of socialism.”
The woman had preceded in office Livan Fuentes Alvarezformer president of the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power on the Isle of Youth, who was denied humanitarian parole to enter the United States.
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