Controversy Over Cuban Ex-Military Pilot’s Entry Into Us Under Parole Program
Retired Castroist pilot and colonel Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez, who participated in the aerial maneuvers that shot down two planes of the humanitarian aid organization Brothers to the Rescue, where four pilots were killed (Armando Alejandre, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales on 24 February 1996 when the Cessna planes in which they were flying were shot down by Cuban warplanes in international airspace on the orders of Raúl Castro). This military member of the Castro regime entered the US with the Biden-Harris humanitarian parole that is granting indiscriminate entry to members of the Cuban communist party, and even Cuban military members who have been notorious repressors and linked to crimes against humanity. Furthermore, this case demonstrates how terrorists, criminals, drug and human traffickers, and communist militants from any country covered by the Biden-Harris parole can enter the United States.
According to reports by influencer Darwin Santana, Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez, the former Cuban military pilot linked to the downing of planes belonging to the Brothers to the Rescue organization in 1996, is said to have entered the United States using this program.
Background to the Case
Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez was allegedly involved in the air operations that resulted in the downing of two planes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, a humanitarian aid organization formed by Cuban exiles who were bringing humanitarian aid to rafters on the high seas over international waters in 1996. This assassination resulted in the deaths of four of the organization’s pilots. It led to the repudiation of the Castro dictatorship for yet another of its crimes against humanity and a diplomatic crisis between Cuba and the United States.
Report: More than 115 Communist Cubans Have Moved to U.S. Since 2023
The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC), a nongovernmental organization, has documented more than 115 cases of members of Cuba’s communist regime moving to the United States since February 2023.
The FHRC is a Cuban human rights organization that, among other projects and initiatives, maintains an extensive public list of Castro regime repressors. At press time, the list features more than 1,000 known repressors, including members of the Cuban Communist Party, state security and police officials, members of the Cuban government, prosecutors, and judges.
On Tuesday, FHRC Director Tony Costa warned at a press conference in Miami, Florida, that the number of Castro regime representatives entering the United States has “increased fivefold” since 2023.
“We have identified more than 1,000 repressors of the Cuban regime and more than 115 who have entered the country in the past year, many of them lying,” Costa said.
The number of repressors who have entered the United States, as documented by the FHRC, represents more than ten percent of the organization’s entire list of known repressors.
Cuba is presently undergoing its worst-ever migrant crisis, which has led to a collapse in its population — both the result of the Castro regime pushing Cuba to the brink of collapse through more than six decades of communist rule, featuring countless human rights abuses.
The collapse of Cuba as a result of communist mismanagement has forced 90 percent of the nation’s citizens to live in conditions of extreme poverty, in addition to other inhumane living conditions — such as constant blackouts and lack of proper access to water, health, medicine, food, and other supplies. Experts have estimated that Cuba lost 18 percent of its population to the migrant crisis between 2022 and 2023.
Rolando Cartaya, the FHRC member in charge of the repressor list, said that the organization began seeing an increase in the arrival of Castro regime repressors to the United States through the southern border following the start of the migrant crisis. Cartaya pointed out that the repressors also managed to enter the United States through other means, such as the Biden administration’s “humanitarian parole” program.
Elixir Arando, a member of the Cuban diaspora, stated at the conference that two Cuban repressors who subjected him to an “act of repudiation” when he lived in Guantánamo are now living in the United States.
“It’s unheard of to know that these people who repressed us, who beat us, are living and enjoying freedom in this great country,” Arando said.
An “act of repudiation” is a mob attack that the Castro regime uses against its dissidents. It features swarming targets and their homes with a mob that chants insults and “revolutionary” slogans and, in some cases, throws garbage or other objects at them.
Cuban journalist Roberto Quiñones, jailed in the past for covering the trial proceedings of a religious couple who wanted to homeschool its children, said that the judge who denied his appeal now also lives in the United States.
The FHRC’s members were accompanied to the press conference by Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL), who pledged to identify and return Castro regime repressors now living in the United States to Cuba.
“If these people have been fighting so long for the regime, they should stay in Cuba,” Giménez said. “We don’t need them here.”
🚨ÚLTIMA HORA —> Si eres un represor Castrista viviendo en Estados Unidos, te vamos a identificar y serás devuelto a #Cuba por cometer fraude migratorio.
Es INACEPTABLE que la Administración Biden-Harris le de cabida a agentes del régimen que asesinan a nuestro pueblo. pic.twitter.com/Ujk0ANLWRW
“If you are a Castro repressor living in the U.S., we will identify you, and you will be returned to Cuba for committing immigration fraud,” Giménez’s message read. “It is unacceptable that the Biden-Harris Administration would accommodate agents of the regime who murder our people.”
Giménez said at the press conference that the arrival of Castro regime repressors to the United States not only affects the Cuban community but also the Nicaraguan and Venezuelan communities.
“There are also people from the authoritarian regime of [Nicolás] Maduro who are ineligible to be here in the United States, and the same is happening with Nicaragua,” Giménez said. “If they were part of the oppression of those regimes, those people should not be entitled to have the freedoms that we enjoy here.”
“If they fought so hard for the Cuban, Venezuelan, or Nicaraguan regimes, let them stay in Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua,” he continued.
The U.S. representative mentioned several cases of Cuban repressors who have recently arrived in the United States, such as Rosabel Roca Sampedro, a Castro regime prosecutor known to have sentenced at least four Cuban men to prison for protesting. Roca Sampedro reportedly requested asylum through the Biden administration’s CBP One smartphone application.
Giménez also mentioned the case of Manuel Menéndez Castellanos, a former member of the Cuban Communist Party and former henchman of Fidel Castro who arrived in the United States in August.
Despite the communist official’s decades-long public track record at the service of the Castro regime, Menéndez Castellanos received a form of U.S. migrant visa through a program of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) known as the “Cuban Family Reunification Parole” (CFRP) and now is believed to reside in Florida.
Other known cases of Castro regime repressors recently arriving in the United States include Melody González Pedraza, a Cuban judge accused of issuing excessive prison sentences to peaceful dissidents. González Pedraza requested U.S. asylum in June after arriving in Tampa, Florida.
In May, Arelys Casañola Quintana, a former Castro regime local government official, entered the United States and is now reportedly believed to reside in Kentucky. Two nieces of Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz reportedly reside in Florida after one crossed the U.S. southern border and the other was accepted as a beneficiary of the “humanitarian parole” program.
Marrero Cruz’s son, Manuel Alejandro Marrero Medina, was reportedly accepted as a beneficiary of the “humanitarian parole” program but was ultimately denied the required flight permit to enter the United States.
Author: Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter X @KalebPrime.
Cuba, an island blessed with fertile land and a favourable climate for agriculture, is today facing a paradoxical food crisis. Despite its agricultural potential and vast maritime resources, the Cuban population suffers from chronic shortages of basic foodstuffs. This article examines how the socialist government's policies have led to this situation, comparing agricultural production before and after the 1959 revolution.
One might ask: In Cuba there is no sugar and no salt! Is it because of the toti=blockade? as the Cuban communists and their acolytes justify it, or is it because of the inefficiency and incapacity of the failed socialist system they represent?
The following is a brief analysis by the author based on statistical data, including Castro's own sources such as the Cuban National Statistics and Information Office (ONEI).
The Decline of the Sugar Industry
The Fall of a Giant
The sugar industry, once the mainstay of the Cuban economy, is a dramatic illustration of the country's agricultural decline:
In the 1980s: Regular production of more than 7 million tons of sugar
In 2023: Production of only 350,000 tonnes, the lowest in more than a century.
Historical comparison: In 1894, with rudimentary technology, 1,054,214 tonnes were produced.
[Source: National Statistics and Information Office (ONEI) of Cuba]
Agricultural Production: Before and After the Revolution
Pre-Revolutionary Cuba: A Tropical Granary
Before 1959, Cuba was known as the ‘breadbasket of the Caribbean’:
Cuba's agricultural production was the ‘granary of the Caribbean.
Rice production (1958): 262,000 tons
.
Beans production (1958): 37,000 tons
.
Potato production (1958): 134,000 tons
[Source: ‘Cuba: A New History’ by Richard Gott, 2004]
Cuba was self-sufficient in several products and a net exporter of food.
Post-Revolutionary Cuba: Decline and Dependence
After the revolution, agricultural production declined significantly:
Rice production (2020): 180,000 tons (31% less than in 1958)
Beans production (2020): 19,000 tons (49% less than in 1958)
Potato production (2020): 71,000 tonnes (47% less than in 1958)
[Source: Anuario Estadístico de Cuba 2020, Oficina Nacional de Estadística e Información (ONEI)]
Cuba became a net food importer, relying on imports to cover up to 80% of its food needs.
Cuba imports 80% of the food it consumes, according to the United Nations.
[Source: FAO Cuba Report, 2019]
Causes of Agricultural Decline
1. Collectivisation Policies
The nationalization of land and the creation of state farms reduced incentives for production.
With the agrarian reforms implemented in 1959 and 1963, agriculture in Cuba changed dramatically. There was a shift from a large number of landowners to a state-controlled system, which has affected food production in the country.
The slogan ‘The land for those who work it’ has never been fulfilled, nor have they succeeded in creating the much-vaunted Leninist-style cooperative movement, lacking in freedom and independence, where everything is centrally managed by the Castro state.
2. Centralised Planning
The system of state stockpiling and the prices set by the government discouraged production and encouraged the black market.
3. Lack of Investment and Technology
The shortage of modern agricultural inputs and machinery has limited productivity, which is why they blame the ‘totí=blockade’. However, before 1959 and with the difficulties of the peasantry of the time, Cuba was self-sufficient in food from agriculture and fisheries and was able to export many of its products.
4. Rural Exodus
The government policies of the socialist dictatorship destroyed the labor tradition of the Cuban peasantry, provoking a massive exodus from the countryside to the city and a large majority emigrated to other countries due to the lack of freedoms, food, and medicine, considerably reducing the agricultural labor force.
The Fisheries Sector: An Untapped Potential
Despite being surrounded by the sea, Cuba's fishery production has declined:
1986: Catch of 244,000 tonnes of fish (When the USSR still subsidized Cuba)
2020: Catch of only 51,000 tonnes
[Source: Anuario Estadístico de Cuba 2020, Oficina Nacional de Estadística e Información (ONEI)]
Fish Consumption
In 1958 the consumption of fresh fish Cuba ranked first in America with 5.6 pounds, followed by the United States with 5.4.
Total per capita fish consumption equivalent to just 18% (8.3 pounds per year) of the world's average per capita consumption of 45.2 pounds (in 2021) according to FAO.
Cuba's per capita consumption reduction dropped from 16 kg to about 3. 8 kg per year. [Source: Publication of the Cuban officialist website Cubadebate.cu]
Historical Comparison: From the Colonial Slave to the Contemporary Cuban
Ironically, some historians suggest that the diet of the Cuban slave in the colonial era was more varied and nutritious than that of the average Cuban today, including:
Beef and pork
Fish
Bananas and tubers
Rice and beans
In contrast, the current diet of the average Cuban is deficient in protein and variety, with frequent shortages of basic commodities.
According to the late historian Manuel Moreno Fraginals:
"In the ingenio Las Coloradas, owned by the Valle Iznaga family, with 260 slaves, the average was 2.5 cattle slaughtered weekly, providing a daily diet of about 220 grams of fresh meat per slave.
From the accounting books of numerous sugar mills, in which they sometimes recorded daily the consumption of the main food items of the endowments, we know that the daily consumption of a slave was more than 200 grams (half a pound is 230 g) of meat or salted fish.
[Source: Download book El Ingenio ► de Manuel Moreno Fraginals.]
Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz recognized at the event celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the Urban, Suburban, and Family Agriculture Programme:
"Of the goal of five kilograms per capita of animal protein monthly, in 2019 “we only reached 200 grams.”, Manuel Marrero, 16 February 2020.
Unintentionally demonstrated that ‘Cubans today are worse fed than slaves in the 19th century’
Consumption of Beef and other Items
Cuba before 1959 had 0.86 head of cattle per capita, eighth place in Latin America. In meat production (beef, pork, and sheep) in pounds per capita, it had the third place in Latin America with 95 pounds, surpassed only by Argentina with 304 and Uruguay with 245.
How the Cuban government's policies have impacted the livestock industry
The golden years of Cuban livestock In 1958 there were around 6 million head of cattle in Cuba, making meat and milk production the second most important economic activity in the country. Cubans were at that time the third largest meat consumer in Latin America.
The Impact of Castro's Regime
When Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, he made drastic changes to the livestock industry that led to its downfall. His experiments and repressive laws led to the collapse of the once-thriving industry. Soon, milk, dairy products, and beef, which are essential components of human nutrition, disappeared from the Cuban diet in the early 1960s.
Government Control and Criminalisation
The Castro regime took control of the meat market, making it illegal for private individuals to sell beef. The government sets prices in foreign currency, making them unaffordable for the general population.
The Decline of Cuban Cattle Farming
Despite the Cuban dictatorship's efforts to present a successful livestock industry, the reality is that over the past six decades, Cubans have had to change their eating habits. Beef has completely disappeared from their tables. Even pork, once a substitute, is now scarce and expensive due to the government's restrictive measures.
The Cuban's Casseroles Remain Empty
Starting with the late Fidel, through Raúl to the hand-picked Díaz-Canel have only filled the empty pots of the ordinary Cuban with promises, slogans and hashtags.
The delusional promises of the late Fidel and Raúl to the hand-picked Díaz-Canel have only filled the empty pots of the ordinary Cuban with promises, slogans and hashtags.
The Delusional Promises of the Deceased Commander
I am sure that in the course of a few years, we will raise the standard of living of Cubans higher than that of the United States and Russia. Fidel Castro, 16 February 1959.
In the livestock development plans, we plan to reach figures of around 30 million liters of milk per day, in a 10-year program. Do you know what that will mean? Almost four liters of milk per capita, almost four liters of milk per capita! It will be a source of unlimited protein for our country, in the form of milk, ice cream, yogurt, cheese, and butter, in all forms. We will have a production that will allow us to consider ourselves one of the best-fed people in the world. Livestock means meat, it means milk. Fidel Castro, 7 June 1965.
In 1970 ... there will be so much milk that we will be able to fill the bay of Havana with milk. Fidel Castro, 23 August 1966.
Raúl Castro the Little Glass of Milk and Continuity
We have been saying for 50 years that the 7 years must be erased from our minds, we have been saying that until the age of 7, we must erase that. We have to produce milk for everyone who wants to drink a glass of milk and there is land to produce it. Raúl Castro, 26 July 2007.
First, we said that beans were as important as cannons, and when the situation worsened, we went so far as to say that beans were more important than cannons.... We will produce food, we will preserve the main conquests of the Revolution and we will continue to advance without neglecting defense for a minute. Raúl Castro, 11 July 2008.
Since Raúl took power on 31 July 2006, he has tried to revitalise agricultural production by trying to curb popular discontent and add other slogans to the empty pots,
but he has had the same failures as his late brother.
We Are Continuity Has Told Only One Truth in His Mandate
In order not to burden you with the collection of hashtags and hollow phrases of the ‘Puesto a Dedo’ Díaz-Canel better known as the ‘Sing*o’ we will reproduce the only truth he has said that sums up the sad reality of the failed Castro-communist regime:
‘We have a law on food sovereignty and there is no food, we are going to pass a law to promote livestock and we have no livestock and we have a law on fishing (...) and there is no fish’, sermonised President Miguel Díaz-Canel in December before parliament.
Conclusion
The Cuban socialist government's inability to guarantee food security for its population is the result of decades of failed economic policies. Despite favorable natural conditions, Cuba faces a food crisis that reflects the structural deficiencies of its economic and political system.
José Tarano is a technical producer, graphic designer, collaborator, and researcher at Patria de Martí ► and TheCubanAmerican Voice ►. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in Telecommunications from José Antonio Echeverria Superior Polytechnic Institute (ISPJAE). In addition, he is the founder and director of Electronics JR Computer Design and Service ►, a computer and information technology services company. Originally from Santiago de las Vegas, Havana, Cuba, he currently resides in the United States.
The Castro-communist regime in Cuba is characterised by a totalitarian grip on power, human rights abuses and repression of dissent. Recent protests on the island highlight the need for democratic reforms, but the regime appears to be orchestrating a false transition to democracy to maintain its control. This article examines the motives behind this façade, international responses and the challenges to real change in Cuba. It analyses the role of the opposition, the creation of a fake opposition loyal to the regime, and future prospects under the Castro dictatorship. It seeks to shed light on Cuba's political complexity and compare it to other dictatorial regimes, as well as to explore the difficulties of achieving genuine democratic change on the island.
1. Background to the Castro regime in Cuba
Economic policies and social control
The Castro regime in Cuba has long been known for its centralised socialist economic policies, which have led to a totally state-controlled economy and very limited opportunities for private businesses that do not agree with the dictatorship, favouring only those businesses linked to the regime or belonging to officials or relatives of the Castro elite. This centralised system has led to economic stagnation and dependence on foreign aid on which the regime has survived by parasitising from its ideological partners from the former USSR to Venezuela and other countries that have provided them with aid and credits that they have never repaid.
The Deceptive Transition to Military State Capitalism
The transition in Cuba to a kleptocracy is taking place fraudulently, with the creation of a fake civil society and a business class ideologically aligned with Castroism. The Castro regime seeks to perpetuate itself in power through the manipulation of terms and the implementation of supposed economic reforms that in reality seek to maintain control and wealth in the hands of a corrupt elite made up of a conglomerate of military officers aligned with Raúl Castro who act like a mafia and which Dr. Juan Antonio Blanco classifies as the mafia power of State Military Capitalism (a subject we will deal with in a future article).
Pilot Linked to Murder of Brothers to the Rescue Pilots Receives Humanitarian Parole From Biden-Harris
🖋️Author Jose Tarano
