Cuba’s communist Castro regime, for the first time in decades, accepted a mass deportation flight containing at least six Cuban nationals convicted of serious crimes, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed on Wednesday.
The Madrid-based outlet Diario de Cuba explained on Thursday that, for decades, the Castro regime refused to accept Cubans convicted of grave criminal offenses who were deported from the United States, leading to the deportees being sent to third countries. At least four such Cubans were deported to Africa during 2025 in light of the Cuban regime’s refusal to receive the deportees at their own home country.
ICE explained in a social media post that the Castro regime has maintained a reluctant stance in accepting mass deportation flights of Cubans but that, under the administration of President Donald Trump, said flights are occurring in record numbers. The first Cuba-bound mass deportation flight of 2026 occurred on February 9 and saw the repatriation of 170 Cuban nationals, some of which had been convicted of murder, kidnapping, rape, drug trafficking and other offenses — ending a decades’ long streak of continued refusal by the nation’s communist authorities.
ICE provided details of the six deported convicted men in a series of follow-up posts. One of the men identified by ICE is Yondeivis Wong Den-Hernandez, who was convicted of second-degree murder in Florida and aiding and abetting improper entry by an alien in Texas. The second deported man was identified as Raul Duquenzne-Batista, a member of the Los Habaneros gang who was convicted in Kansas of aggravated assault, rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated battery, aggravated burglary, and criminal use of weapons. ICE detailed that, in addition to his multiple convictions, Duquenzne-Batista admitted to serving 20 years in prison in Cuba for robbery and breaking and entering.
ICE explained that another Cuban man identified as Alexander Padron-Marten was arrested at large in a targeted operation in Philadelphia. The man had been convicted of controlled substance trafficking. ICE also listed Orlando Sanchez-Sarria, a man who, after receiving a grand theft conviction in the sanctuary city of Los Angeles, moved to Philadelphia to “continue preying on law-abiding citizens.” Sanchez-Sarria was also convicted of controlled substance trafficking, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possessing a firearm by a convict, receiving stolen property, use of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.
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A fifth Cuban deportee, convicted of rape and possessing an altered driver’s license, was identified by ICE as Miguel Ramon Caveda-Perez. ICE officials in St. Paul safely took custody of the Cuban national from the South Dakota State Penitentiary via an immigration detainer. Lastly, ICE listed Gaully Quintana Martinez, a man convicted of aggravated battery with a dangerous weapon, who was taken into custody after he served his sentence in Louisiana’s Morehouse Parish Correctional Center.
ICE stressed at the end of the series of posts, “Immigration detainers make everyone safer!”
The Cuban state media outlet Cubadebate reported this month on the arrival of the February 9 mass deportation flight but did not mention that some of the deportees had received criminal convictions for serious crimes in the United States. The outlet only mentioned that, out of the 170 deportees, 153 were men and 17 women. Of the total, three were “transferred to the investigative body on suspicion of having committed criminal acts before leaving the country.”
Martí Noticias reported on Thursday morning that approximately 42,000 Cubans with final deportation orders are still awaiting repatriation due to Cuba’s refusal to accept them and asserted, “the recent move could indicate adjustments in immigration cooperation between the two countries.”
According to both Diario de Cuba and Martí Noticias, one of the Cuban convicted men deported to Africa in 2025 was identified as Juan Carlos Font Agüero. The man’s stepdaughter, Yessica de la Caridad García Negrín, spoke with Martí Noticias in October 2025 and detailed that her stepfather was deported to Eswatini after Cuban authorities repeatedly refused to accept Font Agüero’s repatriation. According to García Negrín, Mexico also refused to receive the convicted Cuban man, who served a 17 years prison sentence for second-degree murder.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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