Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat is a Cuban political scientist born in Havana, Cuba in 1965, known for being the Secretary General of the NGO Cuban Democratic Directorate, which he co-founded in 1990. According to the director himself, this organization works in support of the resistance within Cuba, aiding various groups engaged in civic resistance against the Cuban communist regime. Additionally, the Directorate focuses on the cases of the dozens of political prisoners on the island. The DDC has a radio station, Radio República, that has been broadcasting via shortwave to Cuba for the past 14 years.
Gutiérrez Boronat, along with his family, settled in the United States from Cuba in 1971. He holds a PhD in Philosophy of International Studies from the University of Miami, along with graduate degrees and a bachelor's degree in Political Science and Communications from Florida International University. He is also a professor and an award-winning writer
Those who know Boronat describe him as a devout Catholic, possessing an encyclopedic political culture and a deep knowledge of Cuba's history. His efforts to establish democracy on the island have made him one of the most influential Cuban voices in the United States.
On July 10, 2020, he met with Donald Trump in Miami to request the "criminal prosecution of Raúl Castro Ruz and the establishment of an International Tribunal to judge Castroism for crimes against humanity." His organization is already pursuing an international trial against the government of Cuba for such crimes.
Gutiérrez-Boronat added in his meeting with Trump that "Cuba is the base of communist occupation in Venezuela and Nicaragua. If Cubans continue to receive support like the one you are giving them to liberate Cuba, the entire hemisphere will breathe easier, including the United States."
In 2019, he gave a series of lectures at the Catholic University and the Pontifical Javeriana University in Cali, alongside others, on the dangers of socialism.
Gutiérrez is also the director of the successful campaign to end cruise tourism on the Island.
In 2018, Bolsonaro met with the Cuban opposition figure whom he described as "one of the main denunciators of the atrocities committed by the Cuban dictatorship."
Boronat also joins the list of exiled leaders who, in a public message to President Trump in 2019, requested the full implementation of the Helms-Burton Act against foreign companies using property expropriated by the Cuban government.
