A Cuban deported from the United States stepped between armed police officers and another migrant being held at a hotel in Equatorial Guinea, as a supervisor repeatedly ordered the officers, "Shoot him! Shoot him!"
The tense episode occurred last week at the Bamy hotel in Malabo and was captured in cellphone videos released this Wednesday by The American Prospect.
The images show Ahmed Soliman, a 30-year-old Egyptian, kneeling with his hands raised, having been held at the site since April. In front of him, a man in a black T-shirt stretches out his arms and positions himself between Soliman and the officers, while one of the police kneels and aims a rifle at them.
Soliman identified the man trying to protect him as a Cuban citizen who had arrived at the hotel just weeks earlier.
"They intervened, trying to protect me," she stated to the U.S. media.
According to the available information about the group of deportees and the circumstances of the case, the man would be Leonardo Sánchez Fernández, a 49-year-old Cuban originally from San Miguel del Padrón and having lived for years in Lehigh Acres, Florida. Sánchez held legal residency in the United States before being deported.
ICE expelled him on August 20 on a flight that departed from Alexandria, Louisiana, with an initial destination of Liberia. Upon arrival, Sánchez and other Cubans refused to disembark from the plane, after which they were transferred to Malabo.
Sánchez later reported that he spent more than 36 hours handcuffed, both on his hands and feet, during the transfer.
His situation is particularly delicate due to his health condition. Almost ten years ago, in Hialeah, he was the victim of multiple stab wounds that affected his intestines and left him in a coma for 40 days. Since then, he has undergone nine surgeries and had a tenth procedure scheduled at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
He now lives with a severe ventral hernia, which prevents him from lifting more than 20 pounds, makes it difficult for him to find employment, and causes him unbearable pain, as he detailed in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País.
Upon arriving in Equatorial Guinea, he reported that he was unable to receive medical attention at a local hospital. "They said that if I didn't have documents, the doctors wouldn't take responsibility for me," he recounted at the time.
The confrontation occurred after several days of tension at the hotel. According to The American Prospect, on August 31, Soliman and other third-country migrants began a hunger strike to demand travel documents.
According to the available information, the incident ended with the arrival of an official whom the migrants refer to as "the Director."
"She calmed everyone down," Soliman recounted. His phone was returned to him, although other deportees still do not have their devices, which are one of their main means of communication with family and the outside world.
The Bamy hotel operates, according to The American Prospect, as a de facto detention center for migrants deported by the United States to third countries. The outlet claims that at least 63 people have been transferred there on six ICE flights since November 2025.
Deportations are taking place under an agreement between the administration of Donald Trump and the government of Equatorial Guinea, led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979.
The American Prospect estimates the deal at 7.5 million dollars and notes that the funds come from resources allocated for humanitarian assistance for refugees.
Soliman acknowledged that he fears possible repercussions after the images were revealed, but stated he is "willing to be afraid."
For him, the recordings now provide evidence of what is happening inside the hotel: "Now there are videos of them violating their alleged diplomatic guarantees."
Este caso forma parte de una cadena de consecuencias derivadas de las deportaciones impulsadas por ICE. Sigue todos los detalles en nuestra sección de
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