Related videos:
A new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) published this Wednesday documents the inhumane conditions experienced by Cubans detained at the migration center known as Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades, before being deported to Mexico without documents, money, or personal belongings.
The 66-page report titled "They Leave Us Here to Die" is based on interviews with 41 Cubans and 12 individuals from other nationalities conducted in Tapachula and Villahermosa, Mexico, and covers the period from January 20, 2025, to March 9, 2026.
Among the most striking testimonies are those of two Cuban detainees who described the water at the center as completely unsuitable for consumption.
Fermín, one of the interviewees, stated that the water "tasted like toilet water" and that the detainees "were constantly falling ill."
Miguel Ángel was more explicit: he reported that the water "contained feces" and that he developed respiratory symptoms without receiving medical attention despite multiple requests.
The report also includes the case of Justo Betancourt, Cuban released after six months in Alligator Alcatraz, who, according to his daughter's testimony, was chained for up to 23 hours a day, endured hunger, and witnessed the use of pepper spray against other inmates.
Detainees at the center reported overcrowding, with between 27 and 32 people per cell, only three bathrooms per module, constant lighting, and extreme cold due to the air conditioning.
Alligator Alcatraz opened in July 2025 at the site of the abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, in Big Cypress National Preserve, Ochopee, Florida, with a capacity for around 2,000 inmates. Its remote location, surrounded by alligators and wildlife, was deliberately chosen by Florida authorities to make escapes more difficult.
Organizations such as Amnesty International had already denounced inhumane conditions at the center in December 2025, including overflowing bathrooms, limited showers, poor-quality food, and contaminated water.
After passing through Alligator Alcatraz and other detention centers, the Cubans were mainly deported to Tapachula, Chiapas, and Villahermosa, Tabasco.
In total, 4,353 Cubans were deported to Mexico during that period, becoming the largest group among the nearly 13,000 nationals from third countries sent to the country.
Activists estimate that there are around 800 Cubans stranded in Tapachula and about 3,000 in Villahermosa, without documents or work permits, in a permanent legal limbo because Cuba refuses to accept repatriation flights for individuals with criminal records.
Many of these Cubans had been in the United States for decades—some arrived during the Mariel boatlift in 1980 or through the lottery system known as "el bombo" in the 1990s—and had family members and children who were U.S. citizens. More than half had criminal records, but only 16% were for violent crimes, according to HRW.
The situation of the thousands of deported Cubans left stranded in Mexico worsens due to the almost total lack of support from the Mexican government and the inability to regularize their immigration status.
"They are abandoning us here to die. There is no assistance; we can't work because we don't have papers. They give us nothing, nothing... How are we supposed to eat, to pay the rent?" summarized Harold A., a 58-year-old Cuban deported to Mexico in February 2026, whose words serve as the title for the HRW report.
Filed under: