The Ordeal of Cubans Deported to Guantánamo: Testimonies

From Louisiana to Guantánamo: the lie that changed everything

An investigation published by El País reveals the harrowing testimonies of more than 50 Cubans who were deported to the Guantánamo naval base believing they were returning to Havana. Their accounts paint a picture of deception, uncertainty, and conditions that human rights organizations call unacceptable.

The night of December 14

On December 14, 2025, guards at the Alexandria Staging Facility detention center in Louisiana told 22 Cubans — men between 20 and 50 years old — they would be deported. Families celebrated: after months of imprisonment, their loved ones would come home.

Arelys Piloto, mother of 22-year-old Alexander Peraza, received the call in Miami: “I’m leaving now,” her son told her happily, after nearly 12 months in ICE custody. Daysi Alfonso arranged a car to pick up her nephew Maykel Rivera at José Martí airport. Rivera’s children “were excited about their dad’s arrival.”

None of them made it to Havana.

Welcome to Guantánamo

After more than two hours of flight, the deportees landed and read a sign welcoming them to the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base — the U.S. military enclave in Cuba since 1903. They were in their country, but they weren’t.

What followed was even more disturbing:

• Blindfolds to prevent them from seeing the facilities
• Handcuffs and leg shackles during transfers
• Detention in Camp 6, the same facility that has housed prisoners accused of terrorism
• Delayed medical care: when Vladimir Gago Soriano — a man with eight surgeries on one leg — slipped in the showers, authorities took an hour to respond

Three flights, 54 deportees

According to ICE Flight Monitor data, the Trump administration sent at least three flights with Cubans to Guantánamo:

In total, at least 54 Cuban citizens have been sent to the military base.

No criminal records

One of the most controversial aspects is the profile of the deportees. According to families interviewed by El País, many had no criminal records:

• Alexander Peraza worked at Miami’s famous Palacio de los Jugos
• Maykel Rivera worked at a cabinet factory
• Marcos Alejandro Ávila, 25, had signed his voluntary departure since October

For the families, although deportation was painful, it represented relief from months of imprisonment. “Freedom in their country was better than imprisonment in ICE jails,” where more than 70,000 migrants remain detained today.

A pattern of escalation

These testimonies add to a series of increasingly aggressive immigration measures by the Trump administration against Cubans, including:

• Third-country deportations costing $40 million
• The death of a Cuban in ICE detention classified as homicide
• Florida paying millions to police for ICE collaboration
• Rising self-deportations as an alternative to indefinite detention

What happens now?

The situation of Cubans at Guantánamo remains uncertain. Cuba is going through one of its worst economic crises, with cuts similar to the Special Period. Deportees arrive in a country where shortages of food, medicine, and electricity are the norm.

Organizations like the ACLU and Human Rights First have demanded transparency about conditions at Guantánamo and questioned the legality of using a military base as an immigration detention center.

Names and testimonies come from El País’s investigation. Aroma de Cuba will continue reporting on this situation.