Después de que Raúl se negó a unirse al ejército cubano y alzarse en armas contra civiles, la policía lo arrastró del campo de fútbol y lo llevó a la cárcel, donde lo amenazaron y lo atacaron brutalmente. Con tan solo 19 años, él sintió que no tenía otra opción más que dejar atrás la dictadura opresiva de su país de origen. Llegó a los EEUU con la esperanza de ser tratado de manera más justa.
En marzo de 2018, la policía cubana se llevó a Adrián Toledo Flores a una celda de prisión, lo golpeó violentamente, y lo tiraron contra un fregadero.
Mientras comenzaba a sangrar, uno de los oficiales dijo, “No mereces estar en este país”.
After fleeing persecution in Cuba, Yerandy Valdes Ruiz was swiftly locked up at Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in May 2018. For over eight months, he was deprived of the medical attention he needed just to stay alive.
During a crisp, cool evening in Cuba, police barreled into Rodrigo’s home and brutally beat him with their batons – striking his stomach, shoulders and back. He fell to the floor and rolled over in pain. He listened as police warned him they could “make him disappear.” Then, he watched them scurry off into the night.
As Jose Antonio Hernandez Viera said goodbye to his 6-year-old daughter in Cuba, he was distraught. She suffers from terminal brain cancer, and needs his emotional and financial care.
But Viera had no choice. The political persecution he was facing had reached its peak, and he would die if he were to remain in his home country, leaving his daughter fatherless.
Two Cuban police officers barged into Brayan Lazaro Rodriguez Rodriguez’s home, handcuffed him, and shoved him to the floor. They beat him in the face with their batons, and broke one of his teeth. They labeled him a “criminal,” and locked him up at a nearby prison.
After refusing to join the young Communists assembly, Pedro – a high school math teacher – was blacklisted from all teaching jobs and was branded as a “counterrevolutionary.”
While Yasmany Jorge Borges Alfonso was detained in a Cuban prison, four police officers beat him until he was unconscious. They took turns hitting him in the head with their batons, each blow harder than the last. As Alfonso lay on the rock-hard prison floor, his forehead dripped with blood. The gashes from his assault were so deep, he needed four stiches. He also lost a tooth from the beating.
After Raul refused to join the Cuban military and to take up arms against civilians, police hauled him away from the soccer field and took him to jail, where they threatened him and brutally attacked him. At just 19, he felt he had no choice but to leave behind the oppressive dictatorship of his home country. He came to the U.S. hopeful that he would be treated more fairly.
