Santiago Álvarez Fernández-Magriñá, an 84-year-old businessman and a prominent figure in the Cuban exile community, revealed in an interview with CiberCuba that he is living in legal limbo in Miami: he is deported from the United States, but no country has agreed to take him in, and a promise keeps him going: "I have promised all my friends in Cuba that I will not die until I return."
Álvarez explained that he never renounced his Cuban citizenship nor did he become an American citizen, despite having served in the United States Armed Forces. "After serving my sentence (of three years for my fight for Cuba's freedom), they tried to deport me and I am deported. I do not have legal status in the United States. They tried to deport me to several countries and none wanted me. So, I am here for Cuba," he stated.
The businessman, who left Cuba in 1959 at just 18 years old and has spent over six decades fighting against the regime, was sentenced in 2007 to four years in prison for obstructing justice by refusing to testify about Luis Posada Carriles' illegal entry into the United States. After serving his sentence, he found himself caught in that migratory limbo, which he describes with a blend of irony and determination: "My job is to fight for Cuba. And I will continue to do so for as long as I live."
One of the most poignant passages from the excerpt of the interview given to Tania Costa, a journalist from CiberCuba, is the one dedicated to Félix Navarro and his daughter Saylí Navarro, both imprisoned after the 11J protests of 2021 with sentences of nine and eight years respectively. Álvarez revealed that he offered to facilitate their exit from Cuba in exchange for lifting their sentences. The response was unequivocal: "They say they would rather die in prison than abandon their homeland. Neither the father nor the daughter."
The regime has gone so far as to prohibit Saylí's mother, also a Dama de Blanco, from visiting her daughter in prison unless she wore colors other than white. Saylí sent a message that Álvarez repeated with admiration: "Mom, I never want to see you again. Don't come to visit me if you're not wearing white." The regime has been denying visits to Saylí Navarro for more than three years under conditions that international organizations have denounced as degrading.
Álvarez also mentioned Sissi Abascal, a Dama de Blanco sentenced to six years in November 2021 for the 11J, who recently underwent surgery for an ovarian issue. "We are trying to help," he said, just as it happened with the release of José Daniel Ferrer when his health severely deteriorated, before the opposition leader reached exile in Miami in October 2025.
Regarding his work supporting the families of political prisoners, Álvarez was clear: he has never sent a single dollar to Cuba during the dictatorship. "I have to help Cuban families with Cuban pesos that are in Cuba" to avoid financing the regime, he explained. His organization spends thousands of dollars monthly channeled in this way, managing to assist more than 150 families of prisoners.
The regime categorizes him as a terrorist. However, sectors of the exile community in Miami have branded him a traitor for participating as an observer in meetings about small and medium-sized Cuban enterprises. When questioned about the opposition members running for political positions in Cuba, despite there being no changes on the island, the businessman declined to fan the flames.
To that question, he responded with a stance of unity. "I am incapable of publicly speaking against any other organization. Even if I dislike it. If it is against Fidel Castro, it is not my enemy. I am not here to divide. I want to win."
Álvarez concluded with a note of hope anchored in the new generation. He pointed out that the regime's closure of emigration has transformed those who wanted to leave into opponents, and that young people aged 16 and 17 are being imprisoned for their opposition in Cuba today. "Cuban youth are no longer thinking about leaving the country. They are thinking about change," he stated.
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