The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported Fernando Armando Valdés Pérez, a 61-year-old Cuban-Guatemalan citizen whom U.S. authorities identify as an asset of the Cuban regime's intelligence who had managed to infiltrate exile circles for years, including the circle of Luis Posada Carriles.
The expulsion, which took place on August 7, was revealed by Martí Noticias based on an official statement from ICE.
Valdés Pérez, a resident of Kendall, Florida, had been arrested on July 10 at Miami International Airport during a joint operation involving ICE, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
According to U.S. authorities, he fraudulently obtained permanent residency in the United States by deliberately concealing his ties to the Cuban regime.
But the most significant element of the case dates back several decades. ICE claims that, since the mid-1990s, Valdés Pérez had the mission of infiltrating among Cuban exiles and opponents in Latin America and the United States to gather information for the benefit of Havana's intelligence.
According to the agency, he even managed to gain the trust of Luis Posada Carriles, one of the most well-known and controversial figures of the anti-Castro exile, who passed away in May 2018 in southern Florida at the age of 90.
Valdés Pérez may have also spent years in close proximity to other well-known figures in the Cuban and Cuban-American community of South Florida.
After his arrest, he was placed under immigration procedures until his deportation on August 7. ICE did not specify to which country he was sent, what information he may have provided to Cuban intelligence, or about what individuals or organizations he may have reported.
The statement also does not mention any criminal charges for espionage against him.
Matthew Elliston, director of the Detention and Deportation Operations office of ICE in Miami, warned that "individuals who conceal ties to foreign intelligence services and exploit our immigration system pose a serious threat to the integrity of that system and to our national security."
The official assured that ICE will continue collaborating with other federal agencies to identify, apprehend, and deport individuals who have obtained immigration benefits through fraud.
The case of Valdés Pérez adds to other recent actions by U.S. authorities against Cubans identified for their ties to the intelligence or security apparatuses of the Havana regime.
In March 2025, ICE and the FBI arrested Tomás Emilio Hernández Cruz, a 71-year-old former high-ranking official of Cuban intelligence residing in West Park, Florida. Authorities accused him of immigration fraud for concealing his affiliation with the Cuban intelligence apparatus and the Communist Party.
A month later, Daniel Morejón García, a former official of the Ministry of the Interior accused of participating in the repression of the protests on July 11, was deported to Cuba.
In these cases, the focus of the immigration authorities has been on determining whether the individuals involved concealed relevant information about their backgrounds or connections to the Cuban regime when applying for immigration benefits in the United States.
The case of Valdés Pérez comes amid renewed accusations from Washington regarding the activities of Cuban intelligence in the United States.
In mid-July, the State Department published the report “Cuba: the Capital of 21st Century Communism”, presented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which accuses Havana of maintaining espionage operations on American soil for decades and notes the existence of 18 signal intelligence facilities in Cuba, some of which are linked to China and Russia.
The Cuban chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla then rejected the accusations and described the report as a "slanderous pamphlet."
Rubio stated that Cuba is “the only country that has systematically deployed and concealed spies within the U.S. system”.
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