A former Communist Party regional leader who served on Fidel Castro’s “coordination and support team” arrived in Miami, Florida, on Thursday through a “family reunification” program and immediately assaulted a reporter who asked him how he got there.
Mario Penton, a reporter for Martí Noticias, confronted Manuel Menéndez Castellanos at Miami International Airport after he arrived from Cuba and tried to ask him why U.S. authorities had allowed him into the country given his decades of involvement with the Communist Party. Menéndez Castellanos frequently appears in the Cuban Communist Party’s newspaper. GrandmaIt has provided supportive propaganda quotes for at least 20 years.
Menendez is the latest example of a Cuban-born individual with ties to the regime and a history of involvement in repression. They are believed to have taken advantage of several immigration programs of left-wing President Joe Biden to come to the United States, likely with the intent of benefiting their victims. The case follows an embarrassing incident at Miami International Airport on May 20, Cuba’s Independence Day, when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gave a Cuban Communist delegation a tour of sensitive security areas. Cuba has US Designation A state sponsor of terrorism with a long history of anti-American espionage and other nefarious activities.
As Menendez was coming out of the gate on Thursday, Penton approached him to confirm his identity, but when the reporter attempted to ask him questions, Menendez assaulted him and apparently attempted to seize or destroy his camera phone. Penton seized the phone and posted the video online.
Camouflage the Mascarilla Sanitary Facility and visit the Miami and enthusiastic medical facilities of the Cuban Manuel Menéndez Castellanos Party Committee. Work on your daily plans for the rematch in Miami, a family member. No… pic.twitter.com/mL7L8NgsMR
— Mario J. Penton (@MarioJPenton) August 16, 2024
While declining to comment, Menendez told Penton he was “coming home,” suggesting he would be staying in the U.S. for the long term.
The incident caused a commotion at the airport, the reporter later said. said Videos posted on social media showed several people at the airport angered by the presence of Fidel Castro’s entourage in their midst, with one person reportedly shouting a warning: “Communism has come!”
Marti Noticias Journalist Written Penton said in his case report that Menendez was approved for entry into the United States through a “family reunification process.” Penton explained in the video that the “family reunification” process would theoretically require U.S. authorities to question potential beneficiaries about their Communist Party history, so it was unclear how Menendez was approved for entry into the United States.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program Known as “Cuban Family Reunification Parole” (CFRP), the program allows U.S. citizens and permanent residents to apply for the entry of their relatives in Cuba.
“Established in 2007, the CFRP program allows certain qualified U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) to apply for parole for their family members in Cuba,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website explains. “If granted parole, these family members can come to the United States without having to wait for immigrant visas to become available.”
The website explains that recipients of the program must pass a background check.
Before retiring to Miami, Menendez served as first secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos, in south-central Cuba near the Bay of Pigs. Grandma Over the years, he has been regularly mentioned as a guest of honour at many of the party’s events and as the source of official statements. For example, in 1998, Grandma Menendez was quoted in an article about the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), investigating Cuba’s neighborhood spy networks, in which he “highlighted the positive changes that the CDR organization has recently made in the state.”
CDR is currently Led Gerardo Hernández Nordero was a former spy who orchestrated the massacre of four Americans in the United States in 1996. Hernández was arrested in the United States for his actions, but was released in 2014 after helping President Barack Obama send his sperm to his wife for long-distance artificial insemination.
Other pages GrandmaMenendez Urged The 2001 revolutionaries were “always dissatisfied” with the quality of communism, he said.Strengthen The work of all the centres is in some way connected with community activity and with the gradual raising of the cultural level of the masses.”
Martí Noticias noted that Menéndez’s official resume boasts that he joined the Castro government in 1972 and served as a member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee and as part of Fidel Castro’s personal “coordination and support team.” Menéndez was so respected that he was sent to represent the regimes in Venezuela and Yemen at international events, the paper said.
Menendez’s case is not an isolated one under President Biden: Martí Noticias has identified several other individuals with ties to the administration who have entered the country, including multiple family members. member There was also the case of the son of Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, who was ultimately prevented from traveling to the United States. Another notable case is that of former judge Melody González Pedraza, a “humanitarian parole” beneficiary who is accused of “countless human rights violations” by subjecting peaceful dissidents to excessive prison sentences. Alerís Casañola Quintana, former president of the People’s Power municipal council on Juventud island, entered the United States in May. Penton noted in a report Thursday that she is now believed to be living in Kentucky.
