ICE: The US deports former Cuban officer Rogelio Bolufé to Ecuador

Havana/The United States deported to Ecuador the Cuban Rogelio Enrique Bolufé Izquierdo, an alleged former major of the Ministry of the Interior and a former member of Fidel Castro’s security environment, after keeping him for nearly ten months in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service, ICE. Although the version that he ended up returning to Cuba has spread on social networks, the most recent verifiable information places him in Guayaquil.

The expulsion occurred at the beginning of June, according to a report published on the 12th by the american magazine The American Prospectwho exchanged messages with Bolufé after his arrival in Ecuador. The Cuban assured that he was included on a flight with Peruvian and Ecuadorian citizens and abandoned in Guayaquil without documents, money or telephone.

“They left me in Ecuador through an accelerated deportation that I consider a retaliation,” Bolufé told the outlet. According to his version, the agents took him out of the United States “without prior notice,” without him having signed any document and without adequately explaining what was happening.

Bolufé said that he arrived with the gray uniform he wore in the detention center, without additional clothing, identification or means of communication and without knowing anyone in the Ecuadorian city. He also stated that the agents warned him that if he did not cooperate during the transfer, he would be immobilized for the entire trip.

“I was expelled from the United States without due process being respected,” he said. The Cuban assured that he still had an immigration procedure open and a pending appeal, which is why he described the measure as “illegal and unconstitutional.” The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions sent by The American Prospect about the case.

Bolufé, 44 years old, He was arrested in August 2025 during a traffic stop in Florida, after the Police found a bag with a white powder that looked like cocaine in one of his pockets. He was accused of possession of that drug, although the charge was later dropped, and he was taken into immigration custody. During the following months he was moved to various facilities in Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Alabama, Arizona and Washington state.

In the detention centers, he denounced the conditions of confinement, the lack of access to legal documents and the difficulties in communicating with lawyers and family members. He also participated in a hunger strike and promoted an organization called the Union of Those Abducted by ICE, made up of detainees from facilities in the states of Washington and New Mexico.

Speculation increased after Sandro Castro published a video made with artificial intelligence in which he and Bolufé appear transformed into superheroes

Bolufé attributes his successive transfers and subsequent expulsion to retaliation for that activity. ICE, however, has not confirmed that his deportation was related to the protests. What is documented is that he was transferred seven times in ten months and finally sent to a third country, instead of being returned to Cuba.

The deportation has been surrounded by contradictory versions. The influencer Alexander Otaola stated this Thursday in his program that Bolufé had been sent to Cuba, but did not present documents or images that demonstrated his arrival on the Island.

He last deportation flight from the United States to Cuba confirmed publicly arrived at the José Martí International Airport on May 21, with 76 migrants, 66 men and 10 women. With this operation, the regime counted 612 Cubans returned from different countries during the first five months of 2026. Since then, there has been no official report of another plane coming from US territory with Cuban deportees.

Speculation increased after Sandro Castro, grandson of Fidel Castro, published a video made with artificial intelligence in which he and Bolufé appear transformed into superheroes and face a gigantic eagle, an obvious representation of the United States.

Bolufé had legal ties to Ecuador and also the nationality of that country

The piece does not offer information about the whereabouts of the former officer, however, its publication has been interpreted on the networks as a celebration of Bolufé’s departure from the United States or as a welcome message to his former circle in Cuba.

There is also a known relationship between Sandro Castro and Carlos Rogelio Bolufé García, son of the deportee and one of the organizers of the controversial birthday party held by Fidel Castro’s grandson in December 2024. The young man, known on the networks as Carluchín Verdehas repeatedly appeared alongside Sandro and has publicly defended the regime.

Rogelio Bolufé’s career is also full of dark areas. Upon arriving in Miami, he introduced himself as a former major of the Ministry of the Interior, linked to Fidel Castro’s security and willing to fight against the regime. At the same time, he defended aspects of his past within the State Security bodies.

The Cuban authorities have included him on their list of people and organizations linked to terrorism, for being the “ringleader” of the group La Nueva Nación Cubana. For now, the last location supported by direct testimony and a journalistic publication is Guayaquil. Bolufé had legal ties to Ecuador and, according to close sources cited by Martí Noticias, also the nationality of that country, acquired by a previous marriage.