Havana/They told them they were going to Miami, but in reality, they ended up in Africa. This is what happened to eight Cubans, one Peruvian and one Venezuelan last Saturday. One of them, Yusmani de la Caridad, who has a six-year-old daughter, a US citizen, told the Telemundo network that they were put on a plane and taken to Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, a country where “the conditions are terrible, there is no hygiene and we are exposed to diseases.”
Another of the migrants from the Island who did not give her name stated that “they were not given any documents.” They do not have any way to “communicate with family members or receive money.”
One of the interviewees commented that she had not bathed for days because there is no water. For his part, Taimi Pellegrin pointed out his concern about not knowing about his future. “It’s like we are already dead, we already arrived here and now they are going to throw us away,” she lamented.
Among the deportees, one said that she suffered from hypertension and anemia and since being put on the plane she has not taken her medications.
According to Yasmany Moreno, one of the Cubans deported to Bangui, “ICE agents destroyed the women’s cell phones and their passports.” In one of the videos that he has shared on his social networks, he emphasizes that “they do not have legal identification. If the Police catch them, as has happened to me, they go to prison.”
According to Yasmany Moreno, one of the Cubans deported to Bangui, “ICE agents destroyed the women’s cell phones and their passports.”
He recalled the dangers faced by deportees in Bangui. “They have already kidnapped me twice, they can also kidnap them. I am a man, but they are women and they can rape them, do a thousand things to them.”
The support they give to Moreno with the videos he uploads to his networks has served to buy five cell phones from deported women.
Aime López said that the moment the ICE agents detained her, she was beaten. Her 17-year-old daughter found out that she was deported to the Central African Republic until a few days ago, when she was able to communicate with her. “No one can imagine what we are feeling.”
Arianne Betancourtmigrant rights organizer Workers Circle in conversation with the British media Guardian Days before these deportations, the United States was preparing a flight that included sick people.
“We know that once they are deported and sent to these third countries, they do not receive medical care in detention centers. They have difficulties obtaining medication,” Betancourt warned.
Between January 20, 2025 and August 31, 2026, at least 25,447 citizens have been deported from the United States to countries with which they have no ties. The Forbidden Stories consortium has presented an interactive map of these transfers, mostly silenced by the US Government, and reveals that some 35 countries have signed agreements for which the Donald Trump Administration has planned a total budget of 410 million dollars.
