Related videos:
The independent Cuban journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada announced this Saturday from Washington D.C. that two Cuban-American lawyers, Yelena Guerra and Liudmila Armas Marcelo, have taken on his legal representation pro bono before the U.S. Immigration Court, with a crucial hearing scheduled for July.
Both professionals graduated from the Law School of Nova Southeastern University, and although they practice independently and at different firms, they decided to join forces to defend the journalist's case in the limited time remaining before that hearing.
"The battle is not yet won. But for the first time in a long time, I feel that I'm not fighting it alone," Mayeta wrote on Facebook.
Your case is particularly complex. He arrived in the United States in 2019 with a J-1 visa, obtained through a scholarship, but this immigration category requires a waiver from the Department of State before one can apply for the Cuban Adjustment Act.
That pardon never came, leaving his application for permanent residency unresolved for seven years and causing the case to be referred to Immigration Court.
The lawyers believe that there are still legal avenues available, particularly because the pardon process is still ongoing, which represents, according to them, a real hope for the case.
Among the documents being reviewed are testimonies and statements from figures of the Cuban opposition, as well as evidence of Mayeta's independent journalistic work over the years.
Mayeta emphasized that both legal experts are well aware of the Cuban reality and understand the risks that independent journalists and activists face if they are forced to return to the Island.
If I am deported, I am sure the first thing that would happen is that I would be waited for at the airport Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba, or in the capital depending on where I entered, and they would take me to prison,” he declared to CiberCuba recently.
The journalist has been a member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) since 2011 and has been a consistent voice of denunciation against the regime from Santiago de Cuba.
In addition to his immigration status, Mayeta suffers from a preexisting health condition that, according to him, would severely worsen in confinement.
This week, he also attended the Congress of the United States in Washington D.C. to deliver letters to Cuban-American congress members requesting support for his case.
Mayeta's case is framed within a paradox that he himself has publicly denounced: while opponents and independent journalists from Cuba face immigration hurdles in the United States, individuals linked to the regime's repressive apparatus obtain permanent residency with relative ease.
The Cuban activist Óscar Casanellas, in a similar migratory situation, denounced in May 2026 that two of his oppressors already have legal residency in the country.
Mayeta's crucial immigration hearing is scheduled for next July, when the Immigration Court will determine her future in the United States.
Filed under: