Maylen Díaz Delgado, one of the Cuban women who took to the streets on July 11, 2021, in Camagüey to demand freedom alongside her father, is now facing one of the toughest battles of her life in the United States.
After nearly four years in exile, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) dismissed his asylum application and informed him that the next step will be a “credible fear” interview, a process that could lead to his deportation.
In a message posted on , accompanied by images of those protests and a poster illustrated with the phrase “Help me USA”, Maylen expressed the distress she is experiencing: “Today I received the notification that my asylum case has been denied. The next step will be a credible fear interview, and from there, only God knows what will happen to my fate.”
In a heartbreaking tone, she warned U.S. authorities that “I won’t return to Cuba even if it kills me” and requested that if her deportation were to be considered, they should “prefer to kill me” rather than send her back to the island.
Her account is not an exaggeration. The young woman clearly recalled what she experienced since the protests of 2021: she was beaten, interrogated, monitored, and threatened on several occasions.
Only luck and the decision to escape prevented him from ending up in prison like so many other protesters who are still serving sentences in the regime's jails. His father, then nearing seventy years old, was also interrogated after participating in the marches in Camagüey.
Exile has not erased the wounds. Maylen left with the bare essentials: “four rags in a backpack, counted money, and a knot in her throat.”
The image that haunts her every night, she confessed, is that of her six-year-old daughter sleeping on the day of her departure. "Living far from a child, without knowing when you'll be able to embrace them again, is like carrying a dagger lodged in your chest," she wrote.
The case of her daughter: From impunity to conviction
The story of Maylen cannot be understood without the ordeal she reported regarding her daughter. In January 2023, CiberCuba published her complaint about the abandonment of the Cuban authorities in the investigation of lewd abuse against the eight-year-old girl, allegedly committed by her own father, a Cuban citizen residing in Canada.
According to her account, she filed the complaint in May 2022, but the process was riddled with negligence: police officers who refused to file the accusation because the accused was not on the island, prosecutors who never advanced the case, psychologists who never attended to the minor, and authorities who allowed the alleged aggressor to enter and leave Cuba without any restrictions.
"In my house, no one has stopped to look at my daughter or to ask anything about the case. No one has asked her what happened or what was done to her. What they know is because my family has gone from door to door demanding justice," Maylen stated during a live broadcast.
That episode had a profound impact on her life and reinforced her decision to flee the country. "I don't know what to say when my little girl asks me not to let her father take her away because she's scared of him," she confessed at the time, pointing to the Prosecutor's Office, the Revolutionary National Police, and several officials from the Ministry of the Interior in Camagüey as responsible for a "total abandonment."
Finally, in November 2023, after 16 months of waiting, a court in Camagüey convicted the father of the minor for lascivious conduct. Maylen then expressed her gratitude for the support received and sent a message to other Cubans: “Do not let institutions deny you your rights, never abandon a cause you believe to be just, and above all, protect your children because unfortunately, monsters can be anywhere.”
The ruling, however, did not erase the suffering accumulated over more than a year of fighting against impunity.
A struggle shared by many
Maylen's case is not an isolated one. In recent months, several Cuban dissidents and protesters have received similar responses from USCIS.
In July, CiberCuba reported on the dissident Joel Pérez, who also had his asylum request rejected despite the evidence of persecution presented.
In June, the activist Salomé García Bacallao reported the massive closure of hundreds of cases, many without even reaching a court hearing, which leaves applicants with only the option of a "credible fear" interview.
Meanwhile, groups of Cubans under I-220A status have protested in Washington to demand immigration solutions and protection against the repression they reported in their home country.
The situation stands in contrast to a few success stories, such as a Cuban who successfully obtained affirmative asylum in May. However, most applicants find themselves in a legal limbo that threatens to return them to the very repressive system they fled.
A rejection that can be fatal
The drama of Maylen Díaz Delgado symbolizes that dilemma. For her, the possibility of returning to Cuba does not exist: she repeats it with the same conviction with which she raised a flag in Camagüey on July 11, 2021, alongside her father.
Today, their plea is heard from the United States, where they insist that they seek no privileges, only the opportunity to live without fear. "If I must die, at least I want a dignified death," they concluded in their message, which has become a desperate cry directed at the nation that once was a refuge for those escaping Cuban communism.
Filed under: