The recent arrival in Miami through family reunification of former Castro leader Manuel Menéndez Castellanos has generated increasing discontent within the Cuban community residing in South Florida, as there are thousands of citizens from the island in a migratory limbo and under an undeserved threat of deportation.
Lawyer Willy Allen stated -in remarks to America Tevé- that a federal investigation requested by Cuban-American legislators from South Florida would be the best way to find out why Menéndez Castellanos was able to enter.
"I would like, number one, for the congressmen to find out -because it has to be at the federal level- for the senators to find out what happened here? What happened in that interview?" the lawyer questioned.
The lawyer added that even assuming he had been relieved of his position 20 years ago, "that does not erase the harm he caused before he was removed from his post, nor does it erase the 40 years he spent doing wrong in Cienfuegos, nor does it erase the damage he caused to the country or the harm that people like him have done to Cuba."
Allen wants the applicant for reunification -who apparently could have been a son- to be investigated regarding what he put in the section that asked to specify what his father did for a living.
Santiago Alpízar, an immigration lawyer and vice president of Cubademanda and Cubapresión ID, entities that denounce human rights violations on the island, supports the request for a federal investigation.
In addition, Alpízar's office has sent a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, questioning how Menéndez Castellanos is allowed entry into the U.S. while there are thousands of Cubans who remain in a migratory limbo and fear being deported to the island for having entered the United States with the controversial immigration document I-220A.
The Cuban Repressors project -by the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba- added Menéndez Castellanos to the blacklist of white-collar repressors.
In 1993, Menéndez Castellanos presided over the National Candidatures Commission of the Castro parliament, and he is identified as responsible for the electoral offense of Denial of Candidature Registration and for crimes against humanity for political persecution.
"What excuse can President Biden and Vice President Harris provide while keeping Cuban families divided and in legal limbo, while granting visas to executioners and thugs of the Castro regime?" questions Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart.
At the same time, the Patmos Institute, based in Washington, criticized what it described as alarming the increase in the entry to the U.S. of "those responsible for the communist system in Cuba," which contrasts with many cases of victims on the island who do not have access to a refugee program, as it has been stalled for years.
After being replaced as the maximum communist leader in Cienfuegos in 2003 and later becoming the head of the support team for dictator Fidel Castro, a position from which it is unknown when he stepped down, in 2012 Menéndez Castellanos appeared discussing renewable energy in Cuba on a Mesa Redonda, holding the position of director of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Basic Industry.
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