A Cuban deported from the United States to the Kingdom of Eswatini, a small monarchy in Southern Africa, reported that he and other migrants were relocated to an African country without their consent, without a lawyer and without any pending formal charges.
In the video, posted on Raúl Hernández's Instagram profile (@dadecountyraul), the deportee claims to have already served his prison sentence in the United States and questions the legality of his current situation.
"They sold us like merchandise. They have us imprisoned indefinitely. They want to force us to seek asylum here, and we are not Africans, nor do we speak their language, that tribal language or anything like that. And besides, no lawyer, nothing," he stated.
The man acknowledged his criminal past but insisted that he has already paid his debt to justice. "This is criminal. I am an ex-convict; I paid for my mistake. That's what I want to make clear," he said.
He also questioned the legality of his forced relocation: "There is no law in the world that says you can hold a person indefinitely, without a crime and without anything. You know well that moving someone from one place to another without their consent is called kidnapping. There’s no other way to put it," he stated.
The case falls within the immigration policy of the Trump administration, which, due to the Cuban regime's refusal to accept its nationals with serious criminal records —whom it classifies as high risk— has resorted to deporting them to third countries.
In May 2025, Washington signed an agreement with Eswatini under which that country agrees to accept up to 160 deportees from nations that reject their own citizens, in exchange for 5.1 million dollars in financial assistance.
Deportees are held at the Matsapha Maximum Security Correctional Center, which is operating at 171% of its capacity and has a documented history of abuses according to the U.S. State Department itself.
He is not the first Cuban in this situation. Roberto Mosquera del Peral, 58 years old, was deported to Esuatini on July 14, 2025, and began a hunger strike in October of that year due to a lack of formal charges and access to legal defense.
Juan Carlos Font Agüero, 59 years old, was deported on November 1, 2025, with his eyes blindfolded; his family reports that he is ill in prison.
Among the comments on the video, several users pointed out the responsibility of the Cuban regime in this chain of deportations.
"They should hold the Cuban government accountable, as it is the one that does not accept them in its country," wrote an internet user. Another commented: "It is an abuse of human rights. If they served their sentence for the crime they committed, they have already paid. They should not be kept in prison."
Human Rights Watch and a coalition of non-governmental organizations have legally challenged the agreement between the United States and Eswatini, arguing that it violates international law and the country's own laws, and that it exposes deportees to arbitrary detention, mistreatment and forced repatriation.
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