A relative of Carlos Antonio Lloga Domínguez, the former Cuban official detained this week by federal agents and facing deportation after the revocation of his immigration status in the U.S., dismissed the accusations from Washington and asserted that neither he nor his family has ties to the Cuban regime.
"It is being very, very tough on people who are just ordinary individuals," said the woman, who is also afraid of being deported and requested not to be identified while discussing the immigration process her family is facing.
He also denied that Carlos Antonio Lloga Domínguez was part of the political structures of the Cuban government.
“As far as I understand, that person was never even part of the Communist Party of Cuba,” he asserted.
According to the explanation, Lloga Domínguez worked exclusively in the cultural sector.
“Just a worker in culture, nothing, nothing relevant, I can assure you.”, he insisted.
The family also mentioned the arrest of the couple's son, Carlos Lloga Sanz, and stated that federal agents were waiting for him outside his home to apprehend him. They explained that the young man was a film teacher in Cuba.
"On his social media, all he has done is fight against the dictatorship; he deeply hates the communist regime of Cuba, from which he fled, I can assure you," he stated. To exemplify this, he added, "I can even tell you more; he had an Instagram profile with t-shirt designs that were against the communist dictatorship."
Lloga Domínguez remains in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) alongside his wife, Etna Cecilia Sanz Pérez, and his son, Carlos Lloga Sanz, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the revocation of the legal status of the three due to their alleged ties with the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), an organization that Washington views as a tool for intelligence and propaganda of the Havana regime.
Who is Lloga Domínguez according to the authorities?
The family's version contrasts with that offered by the State Department, which claims that Lloga Domínguez worked for more than a decade as a “foreign subversive” linked to ICAP and that he maintained active connections with transnational networks even after settling in U.S. territory.
Luis Domínguez, researcher and activist from the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, provided details about the profile of the detainee: “He was the president and director of the Casa del Caribe, in Santiago de Cuba, which is associated with ICAP, the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the People… I call it the Cuban Institute for Spying on the People.”
Rubio's warnings
"for decades, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples has served as a vehicle for radical left extremism and subversive foreign influence in the United States and throughout the hemisphere," Rubio stated while justifying the measure.
The Secretary of State described the ICAP as an organization that "exploits its vast global network to spy on Americans, promote anti-Western propaganda, coordinate foreign influence operations, and organize leftist revolutionary movements around the world."
The warning was extended to anyone with ties to the organization: "If you engage in transactions with ICAP, you will be sanctioned, prosecuted, or deported from our country."
Rubio also emphasized that "the United States will never be a refuge for foreign communists who spread propaganda, engage in subversive influence operations, or support radical anti-American movements within the country."
ICAP and its president at the center of the controversy
The State Department describes ICAP as a network that spans over 2,000 organizations in more than 150 countries, with ties to Cuban intelligence services and "close working relationships between Havana and American radical groups."
His current president, Fernando González Llort, was convicted in the U.S. for participating in the Wasp Network, a Cuban espionage network dismantled by the FBI in Florida in 1998, and served 15 years in prison before being repatriated to Cuba in 2014.
This Wednesday, González Llort publicly responded to Rubio, describing his statements as "lies that do not hold up" and accusing him of "deliberately lying" and "defaming" the organization.
"The Secretary of State is extremely bothered that Cuba's friends and honest, well-meaning individuals raise their voices against the genocidal and criminal policies of Yankee imperialism," wrote González Llort on Facebook.
González Llort concluded his response with a statement of challenge: "ICAP will remain steadfast in fulfilling the mission it was founded for over 65 years ago. Solidarity cannot be blocked."
The legal framework of the sanctions
The detention of Lloga Domínguez is the first direct action against an individual linked to ICAP on U.S. soil under Executive Order 14404, signed by Trump on May 1, 2026.
On June 4, 2026, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) included ICAP and its associated company Amistur S.A. on the sanctions list, blocking all their assets and interests in the U.S. Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed over 240 sanctions against the Cuban regime.
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