From Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, Eric González Peña and his companion Jesús Pérez issued a message of distress this Saturday during a live broadcast with Tania Costa on CiberCuba: "We fear for our lives because we go out and see many armed individuals. It is truly terrifying what we have had to endure since we left."
Eric González, a 44-year-old Cuban living in Texas, along with his American citizen wife and their 3-year-old son, is part of a group of 90 immigrants —69 of whom are Cuban, including five women and 64 men— who were deported on October 21 from Alexandria airport, Louisiana, to that African country. His wife, Isabel Estua, born in the United States, recounted in the interview that her husband was detained by ICE in March at his workplace, an oil company in Texas, and was transferred to El Paso and then to Louisiana without anyone informing him of his final destination.
The last sign of life that Isabel Estua received from her husband was on Wednesday, October 21, from an airport in Louisiana. On Friday, ICE only confirmed to her that Eric González had been "removed," without specifying where to. It was Eric González himself who, after buying a phone with the money he had on him, called her at eight in the morning this Saturday. "He said to me, 'my love, are you awake?' I told him, 'Yes, I haven't slept.' He replied, 'I'm in Africa,'" Isabel Estua recounted.
According to the testimonies of Eric González and Jesús Pérez, none of the deportees were informed of the flight's destination. Only once they were in the air were they told that they were going to "Central Africa," without specifying the country. When they refused to continue, they were restrained. "They tied us up with straitjackets and gagged us with handcuffs on our hands and feet," Eric described. The journey lasted approximately 50 hours, during which they remained shackled and cut off from communication. "We were 50 hours shackled on the plane, unable even to sleep," he added.
Upon arriving in Bangui, the UN welcomed them into an apartment building and provided them with clothing, vaccines, and basic malaria medications. However, their situation remains precarious: they have no documents, lack legal status, and cannot work. Isabel Estua, wife of Eric González, citing information from Yasmani Moreno—a Cuban deported to Bangui months earlier who was there to receive them—warned that the deportees are "practically like hostages. They cannot do anything." Moreno had previously reported extreme conditions in that same location, including cases of malaria without adequate medical attention.
The night before the group’s arrival, a shooting was reported in the vicinity of the building where Moreno was waiting for them. The U.S. Department of State classifies the Central African Republic as Level 4 — "Do Not Travel" — due to armed conflict, militias, kidnappings, and health risks.
Isabel Estua emphasized that her husband has no criminal record, that there was an outstanding habeas corpus, and that a judge had set November 1st as the protection date to prevent his deportation until a response to his case was received. The family's lawyer was preparing a motion to reopen the case when the expulsion occurred. "I am an American citizen, I was born here, and we are legally married. I know my rights, and I know that what they are doing is illegal," Estua stated, also pointing out that when searching for Eric González in the ICE locator, his name never appeared, not even while he was detained.
Cuba does not accept these deportees, making the Central African Republic a de facto destination. According to a report from Human Rights Watch published on October 8, between January 2025 and August 2026, the U.S. transferred nearly 28,000 individuals to more than 50 countries that were not their own, with 536 of them being sent to African countries, without providing a real opportunity to challenge the deportation.
Jesús Pérez summarized the group's mood from Bangui: "We are going to seek help, to find some information that can somehow protect us. Because we also don't know how long we will have." Isabel Estua concluded the interview with a phrase that captures her family's despair: "I never thought this would happen in the country of freedom."
Este caso forma parte de una serie de medidas migratorias que afectan a cubanos en Estados Unidos. Sigue todos los detalles en nuestra sección de
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