The former officer, accused of abuse and cruel treatment in prisons on the Island, was expelled from the United States following a court order issued in Miami.
MADRID, Spain.- The US authorities deported to Cuba former Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Luis Vega García, known as “Veguita”, a figure identified for years by former political prisoners as one of the most violent repressors in the Cuban prison system. The information was confirmed this Tuesday by Martí News.
Vega García arrived in the United States in January 2024 through the humanitarian parole program, but ended up in custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) after multiple public complaints came to light about his record at the head of prisons such as Agüica and Canaleta, centers where former inmates claim to have suffered beatings, punishment cells, deprivation of medical care and other cruel treatment.
On August 25, 2025, an immigration judge in Miami issued a removal order against him, after reviewing the documentation provided by victims and activists that identified him as directly responsible for abuses in prison. The measure has already been carried out and the former officer is back in Cuban territory.
The judicial decision came after ICE confirmed his identity through official documents signed by him, both from his time within the Ministry of the Interior and from the immigration process in the United States.
So far, there are no confirmed details about where he is or his status upon arrival.
The deportation of “Veguita” has symbolic weight for the Cuban community in exile, which had been demanding for months that she not be allowed to remain in the United States under humanitarian protection.
Quoted by Martí Newsinvestigator Luis Domínguez, who was instrumental in locating Vega García in the United States, said: “It is a partial victory. At least it has been officially recognized that a man with that record cannot remain in the United States enjoying the freedom he denied to so many.”
However, organizations and victims remember that expulsion does not constitute a form of justice: complaints of human rights violations are still pending an independent judicial process.
