Rubén Martínez Machado, the Cuban pilot who arrived in Florida last Friday, October 21 after leaving Cuba in a Russian-made Antonov aircraft, must continue to be detained for the time being, according to his lawyer, Edward Soto.
The 29-year-old Cuban had his first appearance today before an Immigration court Pompano Beach, Florida, decided to keep him in the Broward County Detention Center, at least until his next appointment next week.
At today’s hearing, according to the Telemundo network, the judge did not set bail for Martínez in view of the fact that the Prosecutor’s Office was not ready to present his case.
In today’s hearing, according to the Telemundo network, the judge did not set bail for Martínez since the Prosecutor’s Office was not ready to present his case.
“It seems to me that he has a very good case, but I am not the one with the last word,” Soto told Efe last week, after noting that both he and his client are confident of obtaining a positive verdict for their asylum application in court.
This Monday, Maile Díaz, a close friend of the pilot, who has no relatives in Miami, told Telemundo that if the young man “sets foot in Cuba, he will never see the sun again.”
“He will always be persecuted by the government, he has already betrayed and stole a very important state team,” added the woman, who added that Martinez’s mother “is desperate.”
Martínez was a pilot for the Cuban Air Services Company that belongs to the Cuban Aviation Corporation and left the island via Sancti Spíritus. Shortly after, he took a selfie next to the plane upon arrival atl Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, Florida.
Customs agents questioned the pilot as soon as he landed, leaving him in the custody of the authorities, who later took him to the prison where he remains.
His lawyer pointed out at the end of last week that Martínez feared being returned to the island, due to the serious danger that this would represent for his life, so the forecast was to request political asylum.
“In Mr. Martinez’s case, he has been placed directly before an immigration judge and will have the right to apply for asylum without having to establish a credible fear.”
“In the case of Mr. Martinez, they have put him directly before an immigration judge and he will have the right to request asylum without having to establish a credible fear,” Soto told the Miami press.
The pilot is accused of illegal entry into the US, while in Cuba he is accused of air piracy.
On the Island, his relatives have sent their best wishes to the young man. “The only thing I want is for you to fulfill your dream and that they can leave you there… I’m happy because I know you’re fine and you’re where you wanted to be,” Elsa Padrón, her 85-year-old grandmother, said, according to Univisión.
“I am very grateful to all the people and lawyers for what they have done for you,” her aunt, Diana Rosa Machado, told Noticias 23.
Much more critical was his mother, Elisa Machado Padrón, a worker at the Villa Clara Electric Company, who confirmed the illegal departure of her son, taking the plane in which he worked. “I don’t approve of her decision but above all he is still my son,” she said.
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