The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) denied entry to Liván Fuentes Álvarez, former president of the Municipal Assembly of People's Power in Isla de la Juventud, as reported by journalist Mario J. Pentón.
Fuentes Álvarez's flight permission was revoked just as he was about to board a charter airline to the United States, according to a North American government source who spoke to Pentón anonymously due to lack of authorization to discuss the matter. "We take our country's security very seriously and will do everything possible to prevent members of the Cuban regime's repressive apparatus from benefiting from measures intended to assist the Cuban people. We encourage the public to report such cases," the source stated.
In a phone interview with Pentón, Fuentes insisted that he had resigned from his position in 2022 due to disagreements with economic policies. "Everyone knows I resigned from the presidency of the Assembly; I resigned from my position as a deputy to the National Assembly, everyone knows that. Here in my community, no one agrees with what was done to me now," he said, referring to the revocation of his parole.
Fuentes governed Isla de la Juventud during the July 11th protests but asserts that he is not a repressor. He also regrets that the United States "missed the opportunity" to talk with him and understand his political shift. This was part of my phone interview with the former official...
Minutes before boarding the flight in Havana that would take him to the United States, Fuentes was informed that his travel permission had been canceled. "The reaction has to do with that video uploaded by the YouTuber," he stated, referring to crime reporter Niover Licea, who announced less than a week ago that the former leader had been granted humanitarian parole.
The former Assembly president claims he did not participate in repressive actions against the people during the 11J protests and had nothing to do with it. "Anyone you ask on Isla de la Juventud about Liván will tell you he is a 'guajiro' who has worked and works for the people... not in retaliation against the people. I've never had a yes or a no with the people," he argued in statements to Pentón.
When questioned about a post on his Twitter from August 13, 2022, in which he referred to Fidel Castro as "The horse of horses" on the anniversary of the late dictator's birthday, Liván excused himself saying that he became disillusioned afterward and experienced "a process of degradation for not agreeing with a group of issues." "Issues that of course I discussed, analyzed, and evaluated at the time," he added, without going into much detail.
Asked if he disagrees with economic measures imposed by the government, he said: "Of course, how could I not be?" "I was transparent. I hide nothing. I have evidence of why I resigned, I made it clear: for not agreeing with the first secretary of the Party of Isla de la Juventud. I put that in my resignation letter, with courage and bravery. In my case, what proof could the YouTuber have that at some point Liván was a repressor on 11J?" he questioned.
Fuentes also said that during the 11J protests in Isla de la Juventud "practically nothing happened" and that furthermore, everyone knows that repressive acts are organized by the Communist Party and the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), with his role as president of the Assembly of People's Power being merely to "put some buses in case someone was picked up."
Lastly, Fuentes said that in the United States, they have lost the opportunity for an exchange with him. "They have lost the opportunity for me to explain why at a certain moment I had a level of action and now I am having another level of action. That opportunity they have lost," he concluded.
Liván Fuentes Álvarez served as president of the Municipal Assembly of People's Power in Isla de la Juventud from 2019 to 2022. Some videos from that time preserved by local television show him alongside figures such as Miguel Díaz-Canel or Ramiro Valdés, to whom he presented "the replica of the ship El Piñero," a municipal government award "to personalities of history, culture, and sports." After leaving the main government position on Isla de la Juventud, Liván Fuentes Álvarez withdrew from social networks.