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CiberCuba: Cubans deported to the Central African Republic appeal to Democrats for help
Three deportees posted videos from Bangui saying they were flown out in handcuffs and without due process, and asking the party that has just regained Congress to intervene so they can return to the United States.
A group of Cubans deported by the United States to the Central African Republic posted several videos on social media on Wednesday addressed to the Democrats, who the day before had regained control of both chambers of Congress, asking them to intervene and secure their return, CiberCuba reported. The videos were posted by Yasmany Moreno, José Miguel Hernández and a woman identified as Esperanza Toscano Gómez.
All three say they were flown to Bangui in handcuffs, without documents and without immigration due process. "They brought us tied up, we are still held in the centres here, we have no papers, we are sick," Moreno said in one clip, in remarks translated by Yamacoa. "What we are asking is to be sent back, we are here against our will, they brought us by force," Hernández added.
Toscano Gómez invoked the humanitarian precedent of 2015 and 2016, when thousands of Cubans were stranded in Central America and a regional bridge was arranged to help them travel on to the United States. "Nobody here is a criminal, we are not criminals, we have no felony," she said in her video.
The best documented case in the group is that of Moreno, 32, who reached the United States by raft in 2016, received humanitarian parole and applied for residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act, a request that was rejected. He was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in May 2025 and deported to Bangui on July 30, 2026. He had supported Trump in the 2024 election and said in October that he felt betrayed.
The legality of deportations to third countries remains disputed: a federal appeals court ruled in September that the policy violated due process, and the Supreme Court allowed it to continue temporarily while the litigation proceeds, with hearings expected in December. By the end of October at least four flights had been made to the Central African Republic carrying some 170 deportees of various nationalities, 69 of them Cubans on the last recorded transfer, according to the same outlet.
Democrats won control of the Senate on Tuesday with 54 seats and at least 228 seats in the House of Representatives, limiting the Trump administration's legislative room for manoeuvre in the final two years of his term. The group's lawyers are exploring humanitarian visas to move some of them to Costa Rica, Panama or Guyana while their cases continue.
Sources: CiberCuba
Data updated: 2026-11-07T04:15:00.000Z