He returns to Cuba ‘Napoleon’, former state security officer who lived in the US since 2017

Havana/A month after Cuban Yamil Cuéllar revealed on his YouTube channel the presence in US territory of a former state security officer, the same space confirmed Tuesday that Leandro Rubén Garnica González is already back in Cuba. His name also appears on the list of repressors delivered by the congressman Carlos Giménez to the US National Security Department.

He MOLINOS CANAL FOR FREEDOM denounced on March 17 that Colonel Garnica, nicknamed NapoleonHe was head of the counterintelligence in the provinces of Cienfuegos and Villa Clara. According to Cuéllar, his retirement is linked to alleged corruption practices.

When making the complaint, Cuéllar indicated that the FBI was aware of the case and did not rule out a possible detention in the following days. However, a month later, relatives near the repressor confirmed that he is already on the island. The journalist Mario J. Pentón also corroborated on Tuesday his return to Cuba, which occurred on April 16.

In 2017, Garnica obtained a permission to travel abroad and was received by his family in Miami. After a brief trip to the island in 2022, he returned to the United States, where he legally resided and processed his citizenship.

Among the opponents who talked to Cuéllar in their space are independent journalist María Elena Alpízar, former pitching coach Orlando Chinea, and opponent Guillermo Fariñas. All offered testimonies about the violent persecution suffered by Garnica.

When Fariñas saw his photo, he immediately recognized him: “Leandro Garnica … And he is there? This has to be when he falls if he is in the United States.” The 2010 Sájarov Award explained that Garnica comes from the Army and was an official of the former Information and Intelligence Department of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. He also actively participated in the clean call of the Escambray in the 60s, before ascending in the State Security Bodies.

The page where the Foundation for Human Rights of Cuba bears registration of regime repressors It collects several accusations against garnica. One of the most serious is that of former political prisoner Jorge Luis Brito Rodríguez, sentenced in 1994 to nine years in prison for the crime of enemy propaganda. Brito says he was questioned by Napoleon through torture, including beatings, facial fractures, open wounds and bruises. According to his testimony, the then head of state security in Cienfuegos threatened to “take out the liver by kicked” if he did not sign forced confession.

As frequently occurs in these cases, there are no profiles of former State Security Officer on social networks. It is known, however, that Garnica was born on February 27, 1948 in Cartagena, a town in the municipality of Rodas, north of Cienfuegos.

Rivero commented that his former boss could “have information deposited in another country”

The former counterintelligence officer Vladimir Rivero, who was a student and subordinate of the officer, described him in Molinos by freedom as an extremist to whom “the police itself had terror.” On the channel, where it was revealed that Garnica also has Spanish citizenship, Rivero commented that his former boss could “have information deposited in another country” and that he would not be surprised that “tomorrow appears dead in Cuba.”

His name adds to that of other officials and collaborators of the Cuban regime who have decided to self -lead, as the former member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba Misael Enamorado Dáger or the former official of the counterintelligence in Las Tunas, Evelio Eduardo Velázquez Infante.

The recent news has revived the debate in the Cuban American community about the presence of repressors in the heart of exile. The ease with which many of them obtain visas and residence permits, hiding their crimes and lying on their links with the regime is questioned. The doubt about the treatment they receive when they return to the island also persists, after having been considered deserters.