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Mario Pérez Márquez, former director of the "Eduardo García Delgado" School of Arts Instructors in Havana and a key figure in the state cultural training program promoted by Fidel Castro, currently lives in Las Vegas after entering the United States through the southern border in 2022 and obtaining permanent residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act, according to reports from former students and activists.
An article from Martí Noticias reveals that after decades of serving the regime, Pérez Márquez left Cuba and crossed the southern border of the United States in 2022.
Currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she lives with permanent residency obtained under the Cuban Adjustment Act.
According to Martí Noticias, upon his arrival in the United States, the former official removed from his social media accounts posts and photographs that linked him to Castroism, in an apparent attempt to erase his past as a servant of the regime's ideological apparatus.
Pérez Márquez, born in 1963, was for more than a decade one of the most prominent faces of the cultural and ideological apparatus of Castroism.
His position, according to the official media, was "entrusted" to him directly by Fidel Castro with the aim of "training art instructors committed to the Revolution."
For years, he was celebrated by the regime and received the Honorary Member Distinction from the José Martí Brigade of Art Instructors. He participated in numerous official events alongside leaders of the Communist Party, the Ministry of Education, and the Union of Young Communists (UJC).
His management, however, left a bitter memory among many of the young people who attended his school. Former students and activists describe him as “tyrannical and indoctrinating”, responsible for imposing military discipline and ideological punishments in an institution that combined artistic education with political propaganda.
“He was a fervent anti-imperialist, critical of the United States in every aspect. Loyal to Fidel Castro, whom he claimed to be a friend. And look where he is today,” stated the independent journalist Adelth Bonne Gamboa from Havana, who was a student at the center.
Good reports on social media indicate that Pérez Márquez imposed collective punishments for not attending official parades and penalized students who questioned the political content of the classes.
"I never forget when he forced us to sing the national anthem in temperatures below three degrees. We murmured about the cold, and as punishment, he left us without passes for the weekend," he recalled.
The case of Pérez Márquez adds to a growing list of former leaders, judges, and officials of the Cuban regime who have emigrated to the United States taking advantage of humanitarian pathways or the immigration benefits offered by U.S. legislation to Cubans.
Among the most recent cases are the judge from Villa Clara, Melody González Pedraza, accused of sentencing young demonstrators from the 11J protests, and Arelys Casañola Quintana, a former government leader in the Isle of Youth, both identified on American soil in 2025.
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