“Artists Tend to Be the Last Ones to Leave Cuba”
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Dear Friends,
Cubans on the island and across the US are facing a stark reality with no favorable options in the short term. The island’s economy continues its freefall, as one American dollar is now worth 368 Cuban pesos. Just six years ago, in 2019, the rate hovered between 20 and 25 Cuban pesos per dollar. The average Cuban state's salaries of 2,100 pesos, or 6 U.S. dollars, do not reflect this 1,400 percent inflation rate. For example, today in Havana, a carton of eggs costs 3,000 Cuban Pesos, $8.25 U.S. dollars. Daily blackouts continue, averaging 4 hours or more in Havana.
Meanwhile, U.S. policy has compounded Cubans’ uncertainty.
A recent Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision in Matter of Q. Li solidified a harsh legal reality for hundreds of thousands of Cubans in the US who entered with I-220A orders of release. While these individuals were already ineligible to adjust status under the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA), because I-220A is not considered a qualifying form of parole, the Q. Li ruling cements this interpretation at the appellate level, thereby requiring an executive or legislative fix to ameliorate Cuban migrants’ legal situation in the US.
The impact is devastating. Cubans who fled deteriorating conditions on the island and entered the U.S. during the 2021-2023 migration surge now find themselves stuck in a permanent state of legal limbo. They cannot apply for permanent residency under the CAA, often lack access to work permits, and live under the looming threat of deportation–now, not just back to Cuba but to far corners of the Earth.
See updated Cuban migration information and data here.
Haydée Milanés’ new single Duele addresses this pain. For the first time, the Cuban artist penned a political anthem, featuring vivid imagery of Cubans fleeing the island by boat, protesting, and police violence. Milanés sings in front of the Cuban flag and the ocean, and holds up the letter “L” with her hand, symbolizing “Libertad,” a hand signal employed by protestors of the Cuban government. Haydée is the daughter of Cuban music legend Pablo Milanés, who passed away in 2022. He was once aligned with the Cuban Revolution but lived his last years in exile, estranged from the government. Haydée told WRLN that she "wanted 'Duele' to convey that fraught mix of profound love and profound pain my father felt for Cuba himself," and that she considers the song a prayer to Oshún, a goddess of Cuba's Afro-Cuban Santería religion, "to show us a way out of this nightmare."
This week, in Cuba news:
US State Department Certifies Cuba as a “Not Fully Cooperating Country” in Fight Against Terrorism
On May 13, the U.S. Department of State once again certified Cuba as a Not Fully Cooperating Country (NFCC) in the fight against terrorism, joining North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Venezuela. This designation, made by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, bars the sale or licensing for export of U.S. defense articles and services to Cuba. It is based on the determination that Cuba did not fully cooperate with U.S. counterterrorism efforts during 2024.
The U.S. State Department cited the continued presence in Cuba of at least 11 U.S. fugitives from justice, including several individuals facing terrorism-related charges.
This NFCC designation reverses a short-lived policy shift: Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, under the Biden administration, removed Cuba from the list on May 15, 2024, after the U.S. State Department concluded that Cuba did not belong on the list. A Spokesperson for the State Department under the Biden administration had said, “the circumstances for Cuba’s certifications as a not fully cooperating country have changed from 2022 to 2023.” Cuba's reinstatement on the NFCC list symbolizes the increasingly hostile posture of U.S. policy towards Cuba. While Cuba is not a major importer of U.S. defense articles, the designation adds another layer of restrictions that may deter other countries or entities from cooperating with Cuba on security matters.
Mauricio Claver-Carone Leaves the Trump administration
Mauricio Claver-Carone will leave his position as Special Envoy for Latin America by the end of May. Claver-Carone, a hardline advocate of sanctions, was appointed as special envoy to the region in December 2024—bypassing Senate confirmation amid controversy over his 2022 firing from the Inter-American Development Bank. Known for his tough stance on Cuba and Venezuela, he was understood as an important ally to Secretary Marco Rubio in shifting the narrative about the U.S.’s lack of interest in Latin America. In an interview with the Miami Herald, Claver-Carone said his role as special envoy was meant to be temporary because he couldn’t “walk away” from the Lara Fund, his Miami-based investment firm. He also stated he remains “one phone call away,” willing to help the Administration.
Claver-Carone has played an important role in the Trump administration’s most controversial decisions, helping secure the deal to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador and pursuing a “maximum pressure” approach towards Cuba. In the administration, Claver-Carone pushed for a more hardline posture towards Cuba and Venezuela, telling the populations to brace for “short-term pain” as the U.S. government tried to combat Cuba and Venezuela’s governments. While serving as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council during the first Trump administration, Claver-Carone led the failed U.S. strategy in Venezuela and championed severe sanctions against both Venezuela and Cuba.
U.S. State Department Designates Cuban Officials for a Gross Violation of Human Rights
On May 21, the U.S. State Department designated four officials of Cuba’s government for a gross violation of human rights. Prosecutor Yanaisa Matos Legrá, and Judges Gladys Maria Padrón Canals, Maria Elena Fornari Conde, and Juan Sosa Orama are the four individuals who the State Department has determined as being responsible for invalid legal processes that “target, convict, and sentence individuals for peaceful expressions and activism.”
The State Department cited the detentions of Luis Robles Elizástigui and the arrestsof Jose Daniel Ferrer and Felix Navarro as the cases in which these officials have violated human rights. The designation the State Department put on the prosecutor and the judges deems them ineligible for entry into the United States.
New Ruling On I-220A: Implications
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recently ruled that immigrants who enter the U.S. without authorization are not eligible for bond under Section 236(a), even if they are placed in full removal proceedings. The BIA also determined that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must grant these individuals parole in order to release them. The case involved Q. Li, a Chinese national, and while the decision does not specifically mention Cuba, it could have significant implications for the more than 500,000 Cubans who were released with an “Order of Release on Recognizance,” commonly known as an I-220A form. The BIA’s analysis concluded that DHS’s use of I-220A forms was improper; instead, the appropriate procedure would have been to process these individuals under Section 235(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and grant them parole.
Without parole, DHS has left the 500,000 Cubans with I-220A immigration documents in a legal limbo as they are deemed ineligible to apply for permanent residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. There has also been a recent panic as the Trump administration detained a number of people with I-220A forms as a part of the Administration’s goal of carrying out mass deportation. The ruling from the aforementioned case places those with I-220A in a worse-off position by making it easier to detain them. However, the ruling could eventually serve as a crucial precedent in further advocating for those with I-220A to be eligible for permanent residency under the CAA.
Court of Appeals Reprieves Travel Websites of Seized Property Lawsuits
A group of plaintiffs filed suit against travel websites such as Expedia, Hotels.com, and others alleging that the travel websites trafficked in confiscated American property through permitting customers to book rooms at resorts built on land expropriated after the Cuban revolution. On Tuesday, a panel of judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s order to dismiss the plaintiffs’ complaint on the grounds of failure to state a claim.
The judges stated that the plaintiffs hadn’t shown that the travel website companies “knowingly trafficked in confiscated American property” in violation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. This decision has come a few weeks after a different case in which a Miami federal jury in April found that Expedia owed $30 million to a Cuban-American family in damages for promoting and selling bookings of confiscated property. This case in the Miami federal jury was the first of its kind to reach a jury trial due to successive U.S. presidents from 1996 to 2019 having suspended Title III of the Helms-Burton Act that provided for this legal path.
During the first Trump administration, Title III was enacted, and subsequently a wave of lawsuits under Title III were filed. Now after years of litigation, several Helms-Burton lawsuits have either been turned down on appeal or are headed to higher courts.
Two Cubans put on Deportation Flight Destined for East Africa
On Wednesday, the Trump administration said it placed eight men on a deportation flight destined for South Sudan. According to Tom Cartwright of Witness at the Border, as of May 21, the plane carrying the eight men was in Djibouti awaiting developments. The eight men are from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, South Sudan, and Vietnam. DHS published a press release identifying the individuals, including Enrique Arias-Hierro and Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Quinones, both Cuban nationals. Per DHS, both Cuban individuals have been convicted of criminal offenses.
A source from the Trump administration told the Miami Herald that Administration officials asked Cuba’s government to take them back but it refused. The source added that officials of Cuba’s government were notified that the individuals would be sent to Africa.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy said this move “unquestionably” violated a court ruling that blocked deportations to third countries without allowing the detainees the opportunity to contest their removal. Trump administration lawyers told the court that the men had undergone deportation proceedings and didn’t manifest a fear of removal. The judge and lawyers for the plaintiffs responded that it was not enough to validate their immediate removal.
Since assuming office, the Trump administration has sent thousands of migrants to third countries instead of their countries of origin, provoking court orders temporarily stopping the deportations. This is the latest instance of the legal battle between the Trump administration and the federal court system, as the Administration is attempting to fulfill its promise of mass deportation.
Guantanamo Bay Detention Center Cost Estimates Top $100,000 Per Day Per Detainee
U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) stated that he was concerned about the use of taxpayer dollars at Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday, May 20, during a Full Committee Hearing for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He further said that the Trump administration’s use of the Guantanamo Bay naval base appears to cost $100,000 per day for housing each detainee.
According to figures provided to Congress by the military, the Trump administration spent at least $21 million transporting migrants to Guantanamo Bay on military aircraft between January 20 and April 8. While Trump announced on January 29 that his Administration would prepare to detain 30,000 migrants at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, as of May 12, it held 32 migrants. The Trump administration has asked Congress for an additional $44 billion for the Department of Homeland Security in FY2026.
Carnival Cruise Line Rescues Five At Sea
On May 14, a Carnival Cruise Line ship rescued five Cubans aboard a small boat on the Caribbean Sea. Others aboard the small boat refused rescue by the cruise ship, but were given food and water before continuing their journey. After the incident, the U.S. Coast Guard was alerted, and the cruise line stated that “a transfer will be coordinated.” Carnival did not identify the people rescued.
In recent years, Carnival ships have rescued a number of people at sea. In April of last year, a Carnival Cruise Line Ship rescued 30 people, including 28 Cuban nationals, stuck at sea. In May of 2024, another ship helped 25 people stranded on a small boat off the Mexican coast. A lack of access to secure and safe migration pathways has resulted in migration by sea from the Caribbean. Between the FY2021-FY2022, the US Coast Guard reported a 600 percent increase in interdictions of Cuban nationals. With a high of 6,930 migrants interdicted in FY2023, the level has since dropped in 2024. So far in FY2025, the US Coast Guard has repatriated 103 migrants to Cuba.
Human Rights Watch: Open Letter from Exiled Cuban Dissidents
Two weeks ago, a group of 14 exiled Cuban dissidents currently living in the US sent a letter to members of Congress and government officials, calling on them to help the dissidents obtain legal status due to fears of deportation.
Last month, dissident Eliexer Márquez Duany, otherwise known as the rap artist “El Funky,” was denied permanent residence by U.S. authorities and was ordered to leave the US. He informed Human Rights Watch that returning to Cuba would be “suicidal.” Other Cuban dissidents, including academics, artists, and journalists, fear deportation due to stalled immigration processes.
Hector Palacios, Founder of Opposition Movement, Dies at 82
Hector Palacios Ruiz, a prominent former political prisoner, died in Miami on Saturday, May 17. After leaving Cuba’s Communist Party in the late 1980s, Palacios led the Democratic Solidarity Party, the largest Liberal-leaning party in Cuba. He also played a vital role in organizing the Concilio Cubano, a coalition of dissident-run and human rights organizations that helped grow the opposition movement in Cuba.
In 2003, Palacios was sentenced to prison for 25 years after a government crackdown known as the Black Spring. He was released in 2007 due to the importance of his case in the international community and his poor health. In addition to his role as an opposition figure, Palacios supported President Barack Obama’s policy of engagement with Cuba. In a letter he sent to Obama he expressed the need for dialogue between the two countries. Palacios eventually went into exile from Cuba in 2014, and lived in Miami.
"Artists tend to be the last ones to leave Cuba:" Singer Haydée Milanés Discusses Cuba’s “Culture Drain”
Cuban singer Haydée Milanés, daughter of music legend Pablo Milanés, has released a powerful new single, “Duele” ("It Hurts"), from exile alongside rapper El B. The song is a mournful protest against Cuba’s political repression and economic collapse, echoing the pain felt by many artists who have fled the island in recent years. Haydée left Cuba for Miami in 2022, the same year her father died estranged from the regime.
The departure of high-profile Cuban artists, including stars from the iconic TV show Vivir del Cuento and musicians like Lazarito Valdés and Laritza Bacallao, reflects a broader cultural and demographic crisis. Since 2021, nearly one-fifth of the population has left Cuba, with the country’s youth population especially depleted.
Recommended Reading, Viewing, Events:
Read | The Nation: Cuba Finally Embraces Solar
Read | El País: Hunt for former Castro agents: from repression in Cuba to immigration detention in the US
Read | The Revelator: Collateral Damage: The Environmental Cost of Cuba’s Terrorism Designation
Read | Folha BV: Pedidos de refúgio de cubanos no Brasil supera de venezuelanos em 2025 (Brazilian Portuguese)
Watch | WBUR: ‘Night Is Not Eternal’ documentary follows Cuban democracy activist Rosa Maria Paya
