Cuban doctor Álvaro Zapata Inza, specializing in Comprehensive General Medicine, has been detained since June 11, 2025, at a facility in South Texas, under the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The doctor, who entered U.S. territory three years ago under the immigration form I-220A, fears being sent back to Cuba, where his status as a defector from a medical mission in Brazil could lead to reprisals. In a WhatsApp conversation with a friend living in Isla, Zapata confessed his intentions: "If I'm deported, I will commit suicide," he said in a chat accessed by CiberCuba.
According to the account shared by this friend, who goes by the name Abigaíl Corzo, Zapata Inza escaped from a medical mission in Brazil more than three years ago. After a journey through South America, he reached the border of Mexico where he sought international protection. He finally managed to enter the U.S. with an I-220A. Today, his future hangs by a thread.
From Cuba, her friend has expressed concern over the lack of news and the real risk that the doctor may be deported. "He is the one who calls me from the detention center. I am in Cuba; I have no way to help him from here, and he has no family who can intervene for him. That is one of the reasons I have written to CiberCuba, hoping that someone can help," she asserts.
"I don't know who to turn to anymore. I'm desperate. His return to Cuba would mean a sentence, a life under control, without the freedom to travel or to practice his profession with dignity," adds Abigaíl Corzo.
The case of Zapata Inza is reminiscent of another Cuban doctor reported by this outlet back in June of this year. “I’m afraid to go back,” confessed the doctor who was detained in Texas under similar circumstances after also leaving a medical mission. These cases highlight a troubling trend: doctors fleeing the control of the Cuban state only to find themselves trapped in the U.S. immigration limbo, without guarantees of protection or legal security.
CiberCuba published a news article in 2020 in which, during the height of the pandemic, Dr. Zapata shared his departure from Cuba and his life in Brazil, fighting against the coronavirus, before deciding to continue his journey to the United States.
Today, five years later, the same doctor is in the news again, this time following his arrest in San Antonio, Texas. Like hundreds of Cubans with I-220A, Dr. Zapata is facing the closure of his asylum case and subsequent deportation.
When consulted on the matter, Cuban doctors in exile prefer not to comment on this case until it is confirmed that, in fact, Zapata Inza was not part of the leadership of the missions that are dedicated to exploiting or extorting in the missions.
CiberCuba has contacted ICE, requesting an interview with Zapata Inza, but at the time of publishing this news, no response had been received.
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