Juan Carlos Santana Novoa, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security of Cuba, requested political asylum this Monday at the border of Nogales, Arizona, and is currently free in the U.S., with a court date set for August 21, 2026.
The news was announced by Mario J. Pentón based on anonymous government sources, as well as immigrants who interacted with the high-ranking official without knowing who he actually was.
"We had no idea who that man was until the moment we reached the border and they called him by his name. There were eight Cubans in the group. He was in Tamaulipas and asked us to join him to make the CBP One appointment," said one of the migrants accompanying the deputy minister in statements to Martí Noticias.
Another interviewee said that they were always joking with him because they told him "that he looked like a Cuban leader," something that turned out to be true.
It also emerged that Santos Novoa had already missed a CBP One appointment for being in Cuba and that he was "very mysterious about everything related to his family and his past."
The members of the vice minister's travel group claim that he was the only person accepted to enter the United States.
“They called him, asked if he was coming with his wife or alone, scanned his face, and let him through, but the rest of us were told that our appointment was not at this port. We are devastated and, at the same time, we are afraid that they will associate us with that person and put us on some blacklist,” one of the interviewees revealed with disappointment.
A Facebook post from the Embassy of Cuba in Mexico dated September 4 revealed that the Vice Minister of Labor and Social Security of Cuba participated that day in the panel titled "Structural Reforms and Longevity" at the I Technical Summit of the American Social Security Commissions, held in Mexico City.
Santana Novoa was appointed Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security on January 11, 2022, according to the official website of the entity.
Until the closure of this note, the Cuban government has not commented on what happened with the high-ranking Castro official, which adds to a growing exodus of leaders, former leaders, judges, prosecutors, and other figures associated with the government who have headed to the United States through various routes.
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